A classic display of Asian hockey by young Indian brigade at Asia Cup

India has advanced to the finals of Asia Cup currently in progress at Blue Turf of Ipoh, Malaysia. As per the format of the Asia Cup, I would say all the 4 teams in the semifinals got a pretty smooth ride till the semifinals.

Talking first about Malaysian team, they have improved by miles during the last few years. The team under expert coaching of Paul Revington is a different team with excellent mix of Asian and European hockey. I don’t see any Asian team using the full ground space better than the Malaysians these days. In addition to this, Adel Fuentes of Argentina is making a big difference in penalty corner capabilities of the Malaysian team. I personally love watching Razie Rahim and Faizal Saari on top of the D as double batteries while taking penalty corners. Statistically, both of them scored the same number of goals during the FIH world hockey semifinals in Johor Baru.

The Indian team has got a fresh look during the last few years. I have already written about it in the past, and with the exception of a poor show during the London Olympics, I believe they have been doing justice to their potential during the last few years. The London Olympics was a bad dream and we must move on. I believe the Indians had a bad show during the Olympics not because of the technical skills, but due to the inability of handling pressure at such a big stage.

Looking at yesterday’s match with the Malaysians, we can believe Indian hockey has a bright future ahead. Before leaving for the Asia Cup, the Indian team suffered injuries to key players like Gurvinder Chandi, Akashdeep, SV Sunil but we don’t miss these players after watching the semifinals. Ramandeep, Mandeep, Amit Rohitdas are no less than the regulars in the team. The speed, skill, stamina and passion for the goals can be felt from the Indian team. Mandeep Singh is a great forward to be watched in the coming years with his brilliant and cool striking skills.

I still remember the Indian team penalty corner conversions before Jugraj stepped into Indian team in early part of this century. Unfortunately, Jugraj suffered serious injuries and cannot continue with his career. Then we got a great drag flicker in Sandeep Singh. As Sandeep is out due to his poor current form, Raghunath and Roopinderpal Singh are doing the duty as expected. A double battery on top of the striking circle brings the penalty corner conversions to the next level. Finding a slot in Indian team as a penalty corner specialist is not easy these days as Gurjinder Singh is already knocking the doors without success for almost two years now. I personally feel Indians needs to work on creating varieties so that they are not predictable.

Tomorrow is the finals and I am confident that Indian team will pull this through. I wish the youngsters take it as a game and not as a challenge and that’s the mistake they did during the Olympics. Certainly, the pressure of qualifying for World Cup is no more there, so we should see a more fluent game of hockey during the finals. Good luck.