Interview with Dhanraj Pillay: Indian youngsters deserve credit for Azlan Shah performance

The former Indian skipper heaped praise on the young Indian team. 

Former Indian captain Dhanraj Pillay lavished praise on the senior men team’s runners-up performance at the recently-concluded 25th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Ipoh. The crafty former centre-forward believes the team deserves full marks for reaching the final where they lost 0-4 to Australia.

“I thought it was a solid performance by the Indian team. Given the fact that many players like Vokkaliga Raghunath, PR Sreejesh, Birendra Lakra and Akashdeep Singh were rested for the 2016 Rio Olympics, the team performed really well to finish runners-up. I’m pleased to see this team fare well despite missing so many frontline players,” Pillay says in an exclusive chat.

India made a sloppy start to the tournament with a 2-1 win over lowly Japan but regrouped to beat Pakistan and Malaysia by 5-1 and 6-1 margins respectively.

So does the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup performance indicate that the Indian men’s team have a stronger reserve bench than ever before? “I think it’s unfair to compare contemporary hockey with hockey of earlier decades. Hockey has become much faster in last ten years or so and now stamina and discipline hold the key, not that it was not the case earlier. The bench strength that the current team has is something we always had during my playing days,” he quips. 

He, however, was a tad disappointed with the way India played against Australia in the final. “We lost to them twice in the tournament. Losing the final against the Kookaburras was disappointing. We need to stay competitive against top teams for sustained periods and not in patches.”

The 48-year-old, who is the coach of the Air India Sports Promotion Board, stopped short of making predictions for the 2016 Rio Olympics. “Hockey India is doing its preparations for the Olympics. I don’t want to make any predictions for now. Let’s see how things unfold at Rio.”