India can take plenty of positives from drawn game against Australia

The Indians were on the verge of a famous win until they conceded a late goal

There is an ‘all augurs well for the future’ feeling about the Indian men’s hockey team who appear to exude optimism about ‘taking steady steps’ in their pursuit of regaining the country’s lost glory in the sport.

The Test series win in New Zealand coupled with their jump to sixth place in the world rankings has instilled plenty of expectations about the national team, and the Blue sticks only enhanced their ever-growing reputation of a ‘much-improved side’ with a hard-fought 2-2 draw against world champions Australia in the first of the three test series in Rajnandgaon.

The national side showed oodles of resilience to rally from a goal down to be on the verge of sealing a famous win before Chris Ciriello spoiled the party with a late strike. Settling for a draw from being on the cusp of a win might be a ‘mild let down’ for the fans, but there were a lot of positives to take from that game.

“Our defence was rock-solid even though we conceded the first goal owing to a defensive gaffe. I liked the structure of our defence and our boys were keen not to make daft errors in their own ‘D’,” says former Indian captain Jagbir Singh.

A talented centre-forward in his heydays, Jagbir believes regular encounters with top teams like Australia is helping India. “I strongly feel that even if you play ten matches a year against top sides, results will show though a lot of teams played forty-fifty international matches a year,” he opines.

Jagbir, who was doing commentary on Star Sports for the first Test, made a pertinent point about having back-ups when somebody like Sardar Singh is tightly marked. “We need to have a plan in place if Sardar is bottled up as every team comes with a plan of thwarting the efforts of the key players. We have to figure out the guys who can take responsibility of distributing the ball when the Indian skipper is heavily marked.”

The former Indian striker, who also doubles up as the Jaypee Punjab Warriors’ coach in the Hero Hockey India League, says not much should be read into India leaking that late goal that scuppered their chances of winning. “The boys deserve all the credit for coming back after trailing one goal and then going ahead. Late goals happen but overall I’m pleased with India’s performance as well as the crowd support, which is a fantastic advertisement for Indian hockey,” he points out.

Edited by Staff Editor