How India's present keeper-captains have been instrumental in national team's success
Captains come and go. But who make the best captains?
A good leader is level-headed and leads by example. Often he is the team's best player. Captains in hockey and football are as important as cricket since national sides only train together a handful of times per year. Although the coach is ultimately calling the shots, it's up to the captain to inspire the other players on the field and make any necessary on-the-fly adjustments.
Keepers read the game better than anyone else, from the very first minute of the game. They have an understanding of how the ground is behaving, how the players are faring, and what the opponents are doing. While a captain's job becomes a lot more easier, once he gets to stand behind his teammates. A team's success begins with a capable, dependable keeper playing for them. Needless to say, keeper-captains have a lot riding on their shoulders.
Take the example of MS Dhoni. He has shown the world how to utilize this knowledge and lead the team. His calmness in tense situations and unpredictable moves have secured a special place for himself in the history of Indian cricket. Though Dhoni’s batting came under scrutiny in the recent past, there remains no doubt that he still remains the best keeper for India and one of the best in the world.
While he has retired from Test cricket leaving the mantle on the young shoulders of Virat Kohli, he still leads the team in the limited over format. It is apparently clear that he plays not just because he is a captain, but because he has justified his position in the team as a reliable wicket-keeper batsman. When it comes to the shortest format, he is far from done. Captain Cool has now led India to two World Cups with another shot at ultimate glory beckoning.
To remain calm in a tense situation has been his strength over the years. Be it the T-20 WC final or the Champions Trophy Final, he always was calm and cool and trusted his players.
The story is same for Indian hockey skipper PR Sreejesh, who has been nothing short of brilliant while leading the team. The Keralite custodian is not just a crucial member of the team but is also the major reason why the opposition attackers are unable to score. Captaincy is supposed to be a science of the mind that combines skills, upright thinking and a sense of fortitude. Sreejesh has been a class in showcasing his arsenal at times of crisis and has been crucial in steering his team through in the toughest of times
Keeping itself is a very tough job. Besides, there is a need to keep the team motivated as India has a history of conceding late-minute goals along with making the placements on the field as he stands at the best position to observe things happening.
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The 28-year-old has been one of the top goalkeepers in the world. His rise has been through sheer hard work. Though it might sound superfluous, but going by Sreejesh's form a medal at the Summer Games looked possible.
Sreejesh is not an ordinary captain but a special one. A medal at the Champions Trophy and qualifying for the knockout stage at the Summer Games after more than three decades are a testament to that.
Indian goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu has made headlines recently after featuring in Norwegian club Stabaek FC's squad for their Europa League qualifying match against Welsh Premier League side Connah's Quay Nomads FC, making him the first from the country to play in the continental competition.
The goalkeeper made more than 100 appearances for East Bengal between 2010 and 2014 before going to Stabæk for a trial. Prior to his stint with East Bengal, Gurpreet also spent a year on loan at Pailan Arrows. He was soon offered a contract at the Norwegian club thanks to his impressive performances, which he signed in August 2014.
Sandhu has been the number one goalkeeper in the Indian team since Stephen Constantine took over in 2015, with the English coach preferring him over veteran Subrata Paul. The only Indian playing professional football in Europe took over the captain's armband from Sunil Chhetri in the match against Puerto Rico at the Andheri Sports Complex ground yesterday. Although the regular skipper was the star of the show, Gurpreet Singh Sandhu commanding in the air was a welcome change as well.
He had the best view of the whole field, mapped out strategies, because of a better visual range than anyone else on the team. Unlike Chhetri, he did not have to worry about being offensive or defensive. Instead, when the ball was not near him, he was rather focused on marshalling the troops in position and mapping out tendencies of opposing strikers and midfielders.
152nd ranked India defeating their 114th ranked opponents from the Caribbean is certainly a step in the right direction. And Sandhu has certainly hit all the perfect notes since his East Bengal days. The lanky 6’6” star has represented India at the U-16, U-19 and U-23 levels and helped the Kolkata outfit to a memorable semi-final appearance in the AFC Cup in 20 13.
Usually, the keeper is the captain's best lieutenant. You pick the best player for each role, and if one person happens to be suitable for the role in addition to being a good keeper, you pick them for both roles.
If he is also the captain then that really adds to his pressure. It is a coincidence that all three calm heads are the custodian of gloves in the team. Keeping skills are very much under the pump these days and, therefore, players routinely doing both is a rarity nowadays. That is hardly surprising when you consider what is involved. A keeper's concentration must reach a peak of intensity when the ball is near. The rest of the time, he needs to switch off. To switch between the two modes of thinking takes a mind of rare complexity.
There are always exceptions to every rule, and if a player is a great captain and also a great wicketkeeper, you will get these exceptions. Concentrating on their own role, which is a pivotal and difficult one along with managing the added tasks of captaincy is indeed challenging.
Perhaps it is simply beyond the capacity of most players, no matter how talented or patriotic, to perform these duties simultaneously for a long period of time. While Dhoni has already delivered for the nation, it remains to be seen how far Sreejesh and Sandhu can go.
Having said that, as a rule of thumb, a successful keeper-captain is always special. Maybe, that's why we haven't seen many of them.