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Dabang Mumbai failed to make the semis in its first year in the Coal India Ltd Hockey India League (HIL), finishing in 6th spot. Another debutant, Ranchi Rays, lifted the title in the world's biggest league's 4th edition.This time around, The Alphas are a completely different outfit. Having retained just 3 players from last season, their playing squad bears an almost completely new look. The backroom staff is also new with experienced Australian Jay Stacy replacing German Valentin Altenburg as the head coach of the team.With a new look side, the Alphas are ready to give it their best shot at the HIL and win the elusive trophy. Here are 5 reasons why Dabang Mumbai can win the HIL:
#1 Experienced Coaching staff
Dabang Mumbai gave the reigns of their struggling side to the legendary Australian forward Jay Stacy ahead of the 2016 CIL Hockey India League season. The 46-year-old will be assisted by experienced coach Greg Nicol from South Africa. 40-year-old Nicol is a double Olympian (1996 and 2004), who retired after the 2004 Summer Games with a staggering record of 244 goals scored in 200 appearances for his country.
Former Indian skipper Viren Rasquinha will continue to serve the Alphas as their mentor. Having represented the national team 180 times in an international career spanning 6 years, Viren knows the ins and outs of the sport in India. Another former Indian international Edgar Mascarenhas will be part of the backroom staff as the goalkeeper coach and will help David Harte in improving his shot-stopping skills as well as his positioning between the posts.
#2 Good Balanced Squad
The officials at Dabang Mumbai made sure to pick a well-balanced side at the recently concluded CIL Hockey India League auctions in order to maximise their chances of going through to the semis.
The presence of Irish international David Harte between the posts with the experience of Australian international Matthew Swann and Indian youngster Harmanpreet Singh in defence will surely be the key in blunting down the opposition attacks. On the other end of the field, German international Florian Fuchs will be supported by Indians Nikkin Thimmaiah and Affan Yousuf to provide the goals.
However, with a relatively new side (The Alphas retained just 3 players from last season), the difficulty this team will have is to play as a cohesive side and learn each others' movement on the field as soon as possible. If they manage to work as one formidable unit, this team has all the raw qualities to qualify for the knockouts and from there, it is anyone's game.
#3 Foreign Boost
The 20-man Alphas squad comprises of 8 foreigners. whose experience won’t only help the Mumbai-based franchise to give all-round stability, but, it would be an amazing opportunity for the youngsters to gain an invaluable experience from the overseas players.
The presence of two outstanding foreign goalkeepers(David Harte and Xavi Trenchs) will surely help 18-year old Indian youngster Krishan B. Pathak in improving his positioning and shot-stopping skills. The addition of prolific German forward Florian Fuchs and Australian Dylan Wotherspoon to their ranks will give them the added boost in scoring the field goals which will be considered as ‘Two’ goals as per the new regulations introduced in this edition of CIL HIL.
The Aussie trio of Jeremy Hayward, Matthew Swann and Andrew Philpott will make sure Harte is not troubled much by the opposition while guiding the young Indian defenders at the same time.
#4 The exuberance of the youth
The Alphas retained only 3 players from last season in custodian David Harte, Indian youngster Harmanpreet Singh and Australian Jeremy Hayward for the upcoming edition of the CIL Hockey India League whereas they brought in 17 new players in order to turn their fortunes around.
The Alphas think-tank intentionally chose to reduce the average age of the squad by investing heavily in youth while supplementing them with a few experienced internationals. The Mumbai-based outfit's strategy reaped success as they were able to sign promising youngsters along with sought-after experienced internationals.
Currently, the Alphas squad consist of 9 players who are under 23 years in age, 3 players under the age of 20 and just a single player above 30 in Spanish custodian Xavi Trenchs, 34, bringing the average age of the team to just 23.75 years.
#5 Surprise Package
The Alphas did not have an ideal campaign last time around as the Valentin Altenburg-coached side failed to make the semi-finals. However, this time around, the Dabang Mumbai management completely revamped the squad by bringing in 17 new players to the squad. They also brought in Jay Stacy to coach the team and Greg Nicol to assist the Aussie.
This new-look Dabang Mumbai side could spring a surprise on the other teams as they would not have been able to do their analysis on the Alphas properly. Last season's results could fool the other teams to not think of the Mumbai side as serious contenders, but with the squad the team has put together along with the experienced coaching staff, Dabang Mumbai are a force to be reckoned with and their relative unfamiliarity could work in their advantage.
