Despite being a goal down and missing two penalty-strokes -- a rare sight in International hockey -- England, ranked 11th in the world, did not loose focus and won their first league match against India 3-2 in the men's hockey World Cup on Thursday.
The Indians got themselves into all sorts of trouble after Hari Prasad was yellow carded. Playing with ten men was never going to be easy, and, as expected, England took advantage of the situation and were all over the Indian circle, forcing penalty-corners one after another and converting two of them.
Deep defender Kanwalpreet should have analyzed his past mistakes and played a safer game in the danger zone; instead, he chose to live dangerously by hanging on to the ball and dribbling. Due to these lapses we conceded a 'stroke' in the first-half and a penalty-corner in the second, which was converted by James Tindall as England got their equalizer.
In the absence of Kanwalpreet the task of manning the deep defence fell on Viren Rasquinha. This is something the team cannot afford in crucial matches. Dilip Tirkey and Prabodh, who had to fall back, were once again outstanding in defence. A lot was expected from Ignace Tirkey, the team's most experienced midfielder, but he seems to have lost his rhythm. One wonders whether it is because he has surrendered his more familiar left-half position to the younger and fitter Prabodh that has led to this problem. Vikram Pillay too is not performing to his potential.
Gagan Ajit, in the forward line, is struggling. However, he had a hand in the first goal that Shivendra Singh scored. His innovative pass from midfield to the top of the semi-circle to Tushar Khandekar, who in turn relayed the ball to Shivendra to score, was the only worthwhile move that the Indians could come up with. Otherwise, out boys' showing was pathetic. Without any method in approach, the players were content in just defending, thereby allowing the English the space to launch repeated attacks.
Had goalkeeper Bharat Chetri, who played in place of Adrian D'Souza, not brought off some good saves and England scored from the two penalty-strokes they wasted, the margin of defeat may have read like a tennis scorline.
Korea's 3-2 victory over strong contenders the Netherlands has opened up the pool a little bit. India play their third league match against South Africa after a day's rest. On present form it is going to be an uphill task for them to get those three vital points. After the poor showing against England one can't take anything for granted from this Indian side that performed so well against defending champions and hosts Germany in the opener only the other day.
Coach Bhaskaran and his boys need to put behind the early reverses in the tournament and realize that from now on their performance is going to have an effect on their placing in the 12-team tournament. As you slip further in the pool, the demoralizing effect is only going to increase.
The ghosts of the 2002 World Cup, when India finished a dismal 10th amidst the embarrassment of the team's coach being sacked midway through the league stage, are already coming back to haunt Indian hockey aficionados. The need of the hour is some urgent repair work that can see the team at least finish among the top six.
Previous column: India deserved at least a point
Mervyn Fernandis represented India at the 1980, '84 and '88 Olympics. He also captained India at the junior World Cup in Versailles, France, in 1979.