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The world we live in has changed dramatically over the last few months. With the outbreak of the novel Coronavirus, the entire sporting world has come to a standstill. With a few countries in complete lockdown and others severely restricting movement, the general populace has gone into a de facto hibernation.
These tough times provide us with the perfect opportunity to look back at the decade that has gone by and cherish some of the matches that defined the Indian senior men's hockey team during this decade..
Here's a list of the top 5 matches of the decade (2010-2019), that not only inspired the viewers and revived their interest in hockey, but also proved that the Indian hockey team were again coming of age.
#5: India vs Pakistan, 2010 FIH Hockey World Cup, New Delhi
The stage was set. India vs Pakistan in a World Cup encounter. It really didn't get bigger than this. Dhyan Chand National Stadium in New Delhi was to host the 12th edition of the Hockey World Cup. India were the underdogs going into the match, ranked 12th in the world. Numerous promotion events and ad campaigns stirred up interest among the masses. The opening match of India's campaign couldn't have been better set up.
An India vs Pakistan encounter, in any sport, has always had high pressure and high expectations. This match was no different. What made this clash even more interesting is that it was at a time when both teams could beat the other on their day.
A packed stadium on a Sunday evening, the home crowd eagerly anticipating an Indian win and millions at home glued to their television sets, this Indo-Pak World Cup encounter was underway. After the pushback, the first real opportunity for India came in the 17th minute. Vikram Pillay earned India a penalty corner. But it was skillfully thwarted by the Pakistani goalkeeper. India finally broke the deadlock in the 27th minute. A powerful drag-flick by Sandeep Singh was blocked by the Pakistan goalkeeper moments before Shivendra Singh put the rebound ball into the back of the net.
India extended their lead just moments before the halftime break. Indian forward Deepak Thakur found the foot of a Pakistani defender inside the circle, earning India another penalty corner. This time, Sandeep made no mistake as he smashed a low drag-flick to left corner of the goalkeeper. India were 2-0 ahead at half time.
India's dominance continued as Prabhjot Singh scored India's third goal two minutes into the second half and set off on his trademark aeroplane style celebration. Sandeep sealed the match in 56 minute as he powered yet another drag-flick into the back of the net, scoring his second goal of the match.
Pakistan, on the other hand were unlucky as Pakistani hockey legend Sohail Abbas's drag-flick effort saw the ball striking the crossbar on two occasions. Finally, a breakthrough for Pakistan came in the 59th minute as Abbas managed to beat the Indian goalkeeper to score Pakistan's first and only goal of the night.
The final hooter ended Pakistan's misery as India won the opening game comfortably by 4-1. The whole nation rejoiced and many felt that the outcome erased once and for all the memories of the 1-7 thrashing at the hands of the same opponent in the Asian Games final in 1982.
#4: India vs France, 2012 Hero FIH Road to London, New Delhi
Indian hockey hit an all-time low when they failed to qualify for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. It was the first time that an Indian Hockey team failed to qualify for an Olympic event since 1928. Many saw it as a death knell for Indian hockey.
The 2008 Olympic qualifier was held in Chile. With only the winner advancing to the Olympics, India faced a strong Great Britain side in the finals. Great Britain beat India 2-0, thereby killing India's hopes of an Olympic berth. Four years later, the Olympic qualifier 1 event was held in New Delhi and this time the Indian team could not afford any slip-ups.
India bullied their way into the finals, beating all the other teams (Singapore, Italy, France, Canada and Poland) in the pool comfortably. They faced France in the finals. The stakes were high. A win would not only ensure a berth in the Olympics, but also revive Indian hockey which was stuck in a vicious cycle of neglect and non-performance. It would also revive public interest in the sport back home.
On the night of the finals, the hosts could do no wrong as they steamrolled their opponents. Birendra Lakra stared off the goal fest with a reverse stick in the 17th minute to register India's opening goal. The match soon turned one-sided as Sandeep Singh scored 5 penalty corner goals.
By the 57th minute, the match was already done and dusted with the scorecard reading 8-1 in favour of the host. Massive celebrations ensued as India booked a place in the 2012 London Olympics after missing out on the 2008 edition.
#3: India vs Australia, 2018 Hockey Champions Trophy, Breda
The Indian team under coach Harendra Singh had an inspiring Champions trophy in 2018 at Breda, Netherlands. India finished second at the end of the group matches beating Pakistan (4-0) and 2016 Olympic gold medal winners Argentina (2-1). The games against Belgium and Netherlands ended in closely-fought draws.
After narrowly edging out Netherlands for a place in the finals, the Indian team were set to face a formidable Australian team in the summit clash. Going into the finals, Australia had lost only one match and were looking as dangerous as ever. India had to play 60 minutes of high intensity, relentless and attacking hockey if they were to have any chance of securing gold.
India created plenty of chances inside Australia's circle. They earned their first penalty corner in the 7th minute after a successful video referral. Sloppy trapping of the ball saw them miss an opportunity to score first. The first quarter ended at 0-0, but India clearly had more chances to take the lead than Australia.
The cat-and-mouse game continued in the second quarter as well as both teams did not give the other an edge. The deadlock was eventually broken by Australia in the 24th minute as they scored their first goal thanks to Blake Govers. The Indian goalkeeper, Sreejesh, who had a dream tournament thus far had a momentary of lapse in concentration on which the deadly Australians capitalised.
However, India equalized with three and half minutes to the end of the third quarter. A series of one-touch passes and deflections saw India get back on level terms with Australia.
No goals were added in the final quarter as both teams failed to score the winner. Strong defending from both teams ensured that the scoreboard remained static. India's best chance of the quarter came in the 53rd minute, when the Indian forwards penetrated the Australian circle. A reverse stick shot from Dilpreet Singh was heading towards goal but was saved by the quick reflexes of Australian goalie Tyler Lowell.
The match ended 1-1 in regulation time and was heading towards a shoot-out to decide the winner. Australia held their nerves and went on to win the shoot-out 3-1 and clinch the gold medal. Although India fell short in the final hurdle, their inspiring performance is definitely worth praising.
It was refreshing to see an Indian team challenging Australia as the track record for India against Australia has been abysmal in recent times . Overall, the tournament was a good indicator of the team's fitness levels which was on par with the top foreign teams. Sreejesh won the Goalkeeper of the Tournament award, once again proving what a vital player he is for the team.
#2: India vs The Netherlands, 2015 Hockey World League, Raipur
The 2015 edition of Hockey World League Finals took place in the International Hockey stadium in Raipur, Chhattisgarh. India had performed poorly in the pool matches, having lost 2 out of the 3 games with one ending in a draw.
The tournament was structured in such a way that the performance in the pool stage does not affect the team's qualification for further rounds. Basically, all teams were assured a spot in the quarter-finals. The pool stage results only determined who you play in the QFs.
After defeating Great Britain in the quarter-finals and losing to Belgium in the semis, India had a shot at the bronze medal. Their opponents this time were the Netherlands. Team India were once again the underdogs going into the match, having lost to the same opponents 1 -3 in the pool match.
The Indian supporters were not disappointed in what turned out to be a thriller of a match. The first two quarters completely belonged to the Netherlands. Mirco Pruijser opened the scoring for the Dutch in the 9th minute with a field goal, taking advantage of sloppy defending by the Indians inside their circle.
Van der Schoot doubled the lead in the 25th minute with a powerful reverse stick shot that deposited the ball into the roof of the net. At half-time, Netherlands were 2-0 up and the game seemed to be slipping away from India.
Nine minutes into the third quarter, Ramandeep Singh produced a moment of magic as he made a full length dive to deflect the ball fed by Manpreet Singh into the back of the net. At the end of Q3, it was still Netherlands in the lead with India having a glimmer of a hope.
The final quarter produced extremely entertaining and thrilling hockey from both sides. Rupinder Pal Singh scored the equalizer for India in the 47th minute with a low drag-flick into the bottom right corner. India took the lead for the first time when Ramandeep deflected a long pass into the back of the net as the Dutch defenders were caught napping.
India extended their lead in the next few minutes and the scoreboard read 5-3 with just under 5 minutes left to play. India were nicely poised to clinch their first medal in Hockey World League. But the drama did not end there. Sloppy defending saw India leak goals in the final minutes as the Netherlands scored the equalizer in the dying moments of the match and the game was heading for a shootout. Notably 5 goals were scored inside 9 minutes in the final quarter!
The ever-reliable Indian goalie PR Sreejesh brought his best game in the shootout as he saved three penalties to help India win the shootout 3-2. The whole stadium erupted as India clinched their first medal (bronze) in an international tournament since 1982.
#1: India vs Pakistan, 2014 Asian Games, Incheon
The 2014 Asian Games gold medal win was the turning point for Indian Hockey. A gold medal in the Games also helped the team book a spot in the 2016 Rio Olympics. India had last won a gold in Asian Games in 1998.
India entered the finals with a narrow 1-0 win over South Korea in the semis. Although, India were a better team than Pakistan in terms of rankings, they were wary of what Pakistan was capable of, as evidenced by Pakistan's 2-1 win over India in the group match.
With everything to play for, the India-Pakistan finals got underway. Pakistan scored early with Rizwan Sr. smashing a field goal in the 3rd minute. Pakistan were 1-0 up in the first quarter.
India responded with a well-targeted deflection by Kothajith Singh after Gurbaj Singh skillfully split the Pakistani defence to make it 1-1 in the 27th minute.
The third and fourth quarters saw no goals as both sides defended waves of attack from the other. With nothing to separate the teams, the 2014 Asian Games gold medal winner was to be decided by a penalty shootout.
Sreejesh made two fantastic saves to deny Pakistan a lead in the shootout. After 4 penalties were taken by either side, it was 3-2 in favour of India. The fifth and final penalty sealed it for India as Dharamvir Singh deceived the Pakistani goalkeeper to score the winning goal. India were Asian champions!
The Asian Games win provided the boost for Indian hockey to reach significant heights in the years that followed. After the 2014 Asian Games win, the Indian team saw a rise in world rankings as they progressed from 9th in the world in 2014 to 4th in the beginning of 2020.
