PR Sreejesh says that the Indian youngsters are hungry to win at all costs

PR Sreejesh has been India’s knight in shining armour over last five years.

India’s belligerent performance of the recent past, where they have beaten almost all the stalwarts in World Hockey, could not have come that easy- not to say that it was easy at all- had it not been for the man guarding their nets day in and day out.

The Indian goalkeeper PR Sreejesh has helped the team taste glory on many an occasion, including 2011 Asia Men’s Champion’s Trophy win, 2014 Asian Games Gold in Busan, or the recent bronze at the Hockey World League Finals in Raipur. In an exclusive interview to The Times of India, Sreejesh reveals about India’s hunger for victory, reasons behind their success and more.

One thing that is common to all of the aforementioned victories is that they have all come through penalty shootouts, and an Indian penalty corner specialist has held the fort on each of those occasions. It was the same case on December 6, when Sreejesh saved a penalty to give India the lead before Rupinder Pal Singh, India’s drag-flick specialist, netted one to give India its first medal at a World tournament after several years.

Sreejesh, though, was battling an injury as he went into the playoffs. He suffered a bruised knee and a shoulder injury in the last two games that India played at the HWL.

Hence, his performance in the light of these injuries, becomes it all the more special. "I got a couple of knocks on my knee as we were warming up for the game against Belgium. I was under pain. Roelant (Oltmans) came up to me and asked whether I can take the field and I told him I will play.”

“Once you enter the field, you forget about your pain. Having said that, I feel a goalkeeper at my level shouldn't have conceded that goal against Belgium (Cedric Charlier scored between his legs in the semifinal). But there is no point in worrying once you have committed an error.”

“So I was keen to do well in the playoff and I am happy that I could play a part in India getting a bronze medal," said the 27-year old from Kochi.

India recovered from a poor start in the Group stage- after losing to Netherlands and Argentina while drawing with Germany- to beat Great Britain in quarterfinals, and Netherlands again in the third place play-off. However, they lost to Belgium in the semi-final.

Sreejesh states the teams ‘hunger for win’ as the predominant reason behind the comeback. "Gone are the days when teams used to take us lightly. We have beaten almost all top teams in the world recently and our rivals now consider as a fearless lot.”

“There are a lot of young players in the squad and they are hungry to win at any cost," he said.

The frequent change of coaches in the Indian Hockey Team didn’t go down well with Sreejesh however, as he termed it unfortunate to lose coaches at such short intervals. "Unfortunately, for one reason or the other our coaches have not stayed with us for long. I think Roelant will be the guy guiding us in Rio (Olympics).”

“He has asked us to employ a European style of defence and play an (Indian) attacking game with a lot of flair up front. It is yielding results and results are what that counts," added Sreejesh.

The wins over England and Netherlands have come at the right time, he added, as he felt that the team needs to raise the bar and up the tempo in order to fight and win a medal at the Olympics.

"An Olympic medal is our target. We are good enough to finish top-six now. Our endeavor is to be consistent. If we raise our bar in Rio, a medal is not beyond us."

There were spaces for improvement as well, felt the goalie, as he said that India have the tendency to concede early in the game, something that needs to be addressed.

Despite being India’s best goalkeeper over the last five years or so, he still feels that he needs to work on his goalkeeping. Caught laughing when asked about what makes him defend the goals with such tenacity he said, “I am lucky I guess and you need plenty of luck in shootouts. We practice for shootout situations during training.”

“I see who is taking the penalty from the opposition. Then I mentally make a note of that particular player's strength and weakness which I would have analysed during regulation time.”

“Once he swings into action, I just watch the ball and concentrate on thwarting his attempt whichever way I can. Keeping the right balance and good footwork are the key.”

“Experience comes in handy and it helped me against the Dutch on Sunday,” added the Indian vice-captain.