 |
| India-Japan played a 1-1 draw |
After less than impressive performance in Sultan Azlan Shah,
Indian team took on world no 16 Japan in the first of four test match series.
Once again, Indian team disappointed and ended the game at 1-1 thanks to
equalizer by penalty corner expert VR Raghunath. After a disappointing draw,
here are the five things we learnt from today’s day.
1. Sardar Singh needs support and urgently
It is of no doubt that Sardar Singh is India’s best player
and has been the best player for most part
of the last decade. Team has needed
him at every position during those 10 years be it attack, midfield or defence.
At the age of 28, he is not getting any younger and the wear and tear of last
10 years of being depended upon is finally taking a toll on his body. Coach Paul van Ass must address the issue at
hand find a suitable support for Sardar Singh or decrease his responsibility on
the field. Sardar Singh has some support on the field in form of Gurbaj Singh
but it is just not enough. Today against Japan, Sardar Singh once again played
as a lone warrior in the team without any support. All the players expected him
to play their and come and support the team. With him being tired and rested,
India missed his expertise on the field and India once again was lacking
creativity, but when he was on the field, he was busy doing other player’s
work.
New coach Paul Van Ass has to make sure that the team
management finds a player which will support Sardar Singh especially for
defensive duties so that Sardar Singh can go forward and help the team in
creating some much needed goals for the Indian team.
2. Rupinder Pal Singh needs to address his
penalty corner issues
In the year 2014, Rupinder Pal Singh was India’s main threat
through penalty corners with VR Raghunath second choice during penalty corners,
but in the year 2015, tides have turned and Rupinder Pal Singh’s penalty
corners has lost the zing. He had a poor Hockey India League where he was
unable to make any impact through penalty corner and his poor run continued
from Sultan Azlan Shah Cup to India-Japan series where he missed two penalty
corners in the match. His penalty corner conversion needs a lot of work.
During the tenure of Jose Brasa, hockey India brought Jugraj
Singh as penalty corner coach to help Indian penalty corner experts. Once again
the time has come for Hockey India to bring a coach once again who will help
Indian penalty corner experts, especially Rupinder Pal Singh. Jugraj Singh was
one who shaped Rupinder Pal Singh’s early career and once again Rupinder Pal
needs his mentor more than before. Hope Hockey India understands the issue and
gets some help for young Rupinder Pal Singh.
3. Lakra and Raghunath instil some hope
among the fans
One of India’s major concerns in last two decades has been
absence of proper defensive pair. Last proper defensive pair that India had was
Dilip Tirkey and Kanwalpreet Singh but Kanwalpreet’s erratic behaviour and
discipline issues made Tirkey stand alone and defend India’s goal. Now, once
again we have a pair on which the team could rely on and this time it is VR
Raghunath and Birendra Lakra who are forming the new defensive pair. After
receiving flak for most of the early part of his career, Raghunath has won many
fans due to his defensive abilities; Raghunath has come out to prove himself as
a capable defender.
Along with Raghunath, Birendra Lakra has also shown
incredible capabilities as a defender and has cemented his place in the Indian
team. Lakra’s strong performance was evident against Japan as well as he
covered his flank very well and made sure that Japan did not create any chances
from left flank of the field. With Raghunath and Lakra have given some hope to
Indian fans that they are a decent defending pair.
4. India needs new (or old) forward line
Indian hockey was always known for its electrifying forward
line right from the start to the early parts of 2000s, but off late, Indian
forward line has become a cause for concern for Indian team and this match was
not different with Indian hockey team missing the zing of the old days where
the Dhanraj Pillay and Gagan Ajit Singh along with Prabhjot Singh and Deepak
Thakur used to terrorize the opposition with their creativity and fiery play.
Today Indian forward line was once again missing the zing and the players acted
more like robots just doing the basics. Result- Indian forward line failed to
create any chances in the match and was outplayed by Japanese defence.
Indian team management will have to find a solution to this
problem and if possible bring some old guys like Shivendra Singh and Tushar Khandekar
to create some insecurity among the current lot. Only player who deserves his
place in Indian forward line is SV Sunil. His fiery runs have caused trouble
among the opposition. Indian forward line needs a breath of fresh air so it is
time for Hockey India to dump the current lot and get a new forward line before
the Olympics.
5. Coach Van Ass unable to get his message
past the players
Paul Van Ass has a great resume of coaching international
teams and most of the current lot of players have worked under multiple coaches
but this time though, Coach Van Ass is unable to get his message or say style
of play pass Indian players. Indian team haven’t digested the strategies and
tactics put forward by new coach Paul Van Ass and have started all the
tournaments played under him very slow. In the recently concluded Sultan Azlan
Shah Cup, Indian team played without any aim or purpose and it was very late in
tournament that India managed to play according to the plan.
Since that day, it was expected that Indian team would get
its act together and come out strongly in the next tournament, but once again
the team was in shambles. During quarter breaks, Van Ass did discuss his plans
and strategies but it did not work and team could only manage a draw.
Coach Paul needs to make sure that players buy his strategy
and implement the same ASAP. India is not going to play many tournaments this
year and will not have enough time to test the theories. It is high time that
Paul Van Ass makes sure that his strategy is downloaded in the players and put
to use in the game
No comments:
Post a Comment