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The Indian senior men’s hockey team’s jump to the sixth spot in the FIH world hockey rankings could not have come at a more opportune time, and should provide an extra spring in the steps of the Indians when they take on world champions Australia in a three Test series beginning November 19.
Of course, there are numerous instances when teams have made a mockery of rankings in international matches, but India’s upward move in world rankings is surely going to instill dollops of self-confidence in Sardar Singh’s team, which have given ample indications that they are progressing swiftly.
The ranking leap would give the Indians an extra fillip when they lock horns against world champions Australia in the three-Test series. Only a year back, the Indian team did the ‘impossible’ by beating Australia in a Test series in Australia for the first-time ever. Remember, the memorable Test series win happened to be the last coaching assignment of Terry Walsh, who left the job with a fair share of controversy.
Nobody probably gave India a chance against Australia – after all, how does one expect a world number nine side to beat the top-ranked side in the world? Clearly, the odds were heavily stacked against India and it all appeared to be a familiar tale when the Indians went down 0-4 in the first Test.
India looked down and out when they trailed by a goal at half-time in the second Test, and at this juncture it seemed the Kookaburras could not have put a foot wrong. The second half turned out to be the turning point of the series as India struck twice to pull off a 2-1 win – their first win over Australia in four years – the last win came at the 2010 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, where India won 4-3.
Deprived of live action by any channel, Indian hockey buffs took to YouTube to follow the national team’s fortunes and it was all worth it as SV Sunil scored in their hard-fought 1-0 win in the third Test.
The Aussies needed to come hard at the Indians in order to at least square the series as their hopes of winning it went up in smoke after they lost the third Test. India were in no mood to allow comeback opportunities to the hosts and scored thrice to script a 3-1 win and bag the series 3-1. The Test series win in Australia was a new ‘high’ for Indian hockey and one hopes that India – riding on high following their recent ranking jump – will pull off something special against the world champions in front of their home crowd.
