Is the sloppy Indian team missing Terry Walsh?

Terry Walsh speaks with the players after their win over Australia last year

The dynamics of the team post Walsh’s exit

The national team was probably playing the best hockey it had dished out in the last few years. Beating the world’s top four teams (Australia, Germany, Belgium and Netherlands) in a single year may have convinced the Indian hockey cynics that the sport was headed in the right direction. And when one factors in India’s historic 3-1 Test series win over world champions Australia in Australia, one cannot help but feel that the’ winds of change’ had indeed swept across Indian hockey due to the diligence of one man.

Terry Walsh, a celebrated coach and a player of pedigree in his heydays for the Kookaburras, was making a world of difference.

Of course, it makes sense to move on now that Dutchman Paul Van Ass has taken over from Terry Walsh as the new coach. But the way India played in the first two games of the 24th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup against Korea and New Zealand smacks of a feeling that the national team hasn’t quite gelled as a unit under Van Ass.

The fighting spirit of the Indians, which was sharply evident during Walsh’s reign, is sorely missing. We all remember how India, down 0-2 against New Zealand in the semifinals of the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games, mounted a serious fightback and not only equalized, but also won the game 3-2. In the same tournament, we saw India give the mighty Australia a scare before going down 2-4.

The manner in which Walsh’s troops stunned Australia in the four Test series after losing the opening game 0-4 seemed to have capped off a brilliant run for India, until the whole controversy erupted over the Aussie’s exit.

Too early to judge Van Ass?

It will be cruel to lambast Van Ass based on the results of two games. We don’t know what is in store for us in future, but the lurking feeling is that this Sardar Singh-led side is not playing the kind of hockey it was playing under coach Walsh. The players are no doubt creating adequate scoring chances, but are missing far too many for their comfort; moreover, their midfield hasn’t quite asserted its dominance as they would have liked.

The forward line, despite the fair amount of experience in its ranks, has not been able to engineer the desired penalty corners for the fullbacks to make the most of, let alone scoring goals.

Van Ass has categorically stated that he wants the team to improve and is not focusing on the results. But the country’s ardent hockey buffs are not likely to buy talk like that from the Dutchman. It’s not that India’s hockey fans have anything against Van Ass, but expecting them to settle for anything less than positive results from the Blueshirts would be asking for too much.

Is the Indian team missing Terry Walsh? Only time can answer that question with any kind of surety. Yes, most players (in private) have acknowledged the contributions of Walsh last year, and the keen followers of the sport were left disappointed when he made his exit.

But Van Ass may well engineer a turnaround in the near future, so a little patience with him would not be amiss.