Interview with SV Sunil: "Harmanpreet has a bright future"

Indian hockey vice-captain SV Sunil 

SV Sunil turned up as vice-captain of the national side for the first time in the 25th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Ipoh, and the 26-year-old forward appeared to have enjoyed his ‘new responsibility’ firing on all cylinders up front, even scoring twice in the 5-1 win over arch-rivals Pakistan. The nippy striker from Coorg spoke about his game and much more in an exclusive interview.

Excerpts:

Q How was your first-time experience as vice-captain of the Indian team?

Obviously, it is a big responsibility – it’s all about taking everyone into confidence and playing as a unit. It is a great feeling to be handed such a responsibility.

Q Talking of your own game, it did appear that you have raised your game by several notches in the 25th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup. Your thoughts.

I have been working on my game based on what my coaches have telling me to execute in training sessions. At a personal level, I was happy to have contributed towards the team’s cause.

Q The Indian team have earned the reputation of being ‘slow starters’ – at most times they lack intensity in the first game of the tournament. What’s your assessment?

As a team we are always looking to improve. If you look at our first game against Japan which we won 2-1, I agree that our energy levels are not as it should be. The heat in Malaysia was not easy to cope with – temperature was hovering between 38-40 degree Celsius and we found it hard to up our ante in such hot conditions. However, it is not an excuse as we want to keep improving.

Q India lost both big games – 1-5 and 0-4 to Australia.

It was not as if we were finding it hard to match them. We were competitive – it is just that Aussies were better in circle penetrations and made the most of their chances, whereas we did not convert the chances that came our way.

Q What really went wrong in the game against New Zealand which we lost 1-2 after our superb win against arch-rivals Pakistan?

I think we were slow off our blocks in the game and that really hit us hard.

Q You reserved your best against arch-rivals Pakistan, scoring twice in the 5-1 win.

Any game is important for us and contributing to the team makes you feel good, though I have never focused on such personal milestones.

Q Harmanpreet Singh’s senior international debut showed he is ready for the big league.

He is a talented bloke and has a bright future. India have some of the world’s best drag-flickers and Harmanpreet is another valuable addition to that.

Q How do you assess India’s chances at Rio Olympics?

We have a lot of hard work left in the coming months before the Rio Olympics. It will not be proper to talk about what we can achieve in Rio – the objective is to prepare hard and give a good performance in Rio.