“His shoes will be difficult to fill” - Harendra Singh on India finding Sreejesh’s replacement
India may have lost the two-match home series to Germany, but former national team star and Indian women's senior team coach, Harendra Singh has taken a lot of positives from the games against the current Olympic silver medalists.
India had lost the first match 1-2 but made a strong comeback to script a 5-3 win in the second. The Germans won the subsequent penalty shootout 3-1 to clinch the series.
"The entire crowd had gone away dejected after the first match. But I saw a lot of positive aspects in our performance. We had more number of circle penetrations and scoring chances. But we were let down by poor finishing," Harendra told Sportskeeda.
"We created a lot of penalty corners but could not utilize most of them. This was because we tried a lot of variations most of which did not work out. But these are the matches when new variations should be tried out so we can be ready for the challenges in big tournaments. So kudos to the coach.
"Our boys are also very fast on the counterattack. They scored two goals on the counter. This aspect of our team is a big threat for most teams around the world. The fitness of the boys is also top notch," he added.
The series against Germany was the first assignment for the Indian team after veteran star goalkeeper PR Sreejesh's retirement. The custodian from Kerala had played a significant role in the bronze medal triumphs in consecutive Olympics.
Thus, the series in New Delhi was Krishan Pathak's maiden international appearance as the Indian team's first-choice goalkeeper. Stepping into Sreejesh's oversized shoes was not easy by any stretch of the imagination, but Harendra praised the 27-year-old from Punjab for his performance against Germany.
"Sreejesh has left such a massive legacy which will be extremely difficult to match. His shoes will be difficult to fill. We have to give Pathak time to fit into his new role of first choice goalkeeper. We cannot compare him to Sreejesh right now. Let him create his own legacy," he said.
"Pathak is a very good goalkeeper. He has been in the national squad under the guidance of Sreejesh for a couple of years. I think he will slowly fill the vacuum created by the absence of Sreejesh," Singh added,
Harendra is currently the coach of the Indian women's team and has a big challenge coming up in the form of the Women’s Asian Champions Trophy 2024 which India will host in Rajgir, Bihar from November 11-20. He is confident that his wards will make Indian fans proud with their performances.
"Bihar is the land of my birth. I have been to a lot of hockey playing nations and I will congratulate Hockey India and the Bihar government for creating the very best infrastructure and facilities in Rajgir," he opined.
"My team will give their 100 percent. The criteria for 100 percent is we will use all the variations and techniques up our sleeves in order to win our matches," the coach concluded.