Pro League: Buoyed India set for Aus clash
BHUBANESWAR: At the start of the year, few hockey experts would have predicted India sitting pretty in third place with eight points in the FIH Pro League standings after the first two rounds. But a little over a month later, expectations have risen from the Graham Reid-coached outfit after impressive performances against top teams, despite having not played them since December 2018.
A fit, hungry and tactful India beat 2018 World Cup runners-up, the Netherlands, in back-to-back games before stunning world champions Belgium. Though the No. 1-ranked team handed India their first loss of the tournament in the next contest—due to a couple of uncharacteristic errors— Reid was quite impressed with his team’s show, terming it as a “very repeatable performance”.
“We can go out and do that again and I wouldn’t have any problems with that,” said Reid. “We’ll have a bad game, that’s life. Everyone has that. We just need to keep that consistency with all the work, the tactics etc and we’ll just keep getting better.”
The Manpreet Singh-led India needs to maintain the same consistency—minus the glaring errors—for a third time in a month as they face possibly the toughest test yet in their Pro League debut—against defending champions Australia at the Kalinga Stadium here on Friday and Saturday.
Fifth on the points table with six points, it hasn’t exactly been a dream start to 2020 for the world’s No. 2 team.
After back-to-back losses to Belgium Down Under, Australia were almost beaten by Great Britain in regulation time at the Sydney Olympic Park before mounting a comeback to win via penalty shootouts. It was only in their last game that they looked the Australia of old, hammering Great Britain 5-1.
“It’s been a mixed start for us in the Pro League so far but we’re hoping to face a tough fight against the hosts,” said Australia head coach Colin Batch, who was named FIH Coach of the Year last week.
Results apart, the stature, history and dominance of the team from Down Under give them a psychological advantage. For example, the last time Australia did not reach the semi-finals of the World Cup was in 1975 when the game was played on grass. They have been the perennial world No. 1 outfit in the last decade, getting displaced once in a while, like they were by Belgium last month.
Historically too, the Kookaburras have been the presiding team in matches against India, winning 22 of the last 30, losing six and two ending in draws. In fact, Australia have not tasted defeat against India since 2016 and will try to extend their record, having arrived at the venue six days back to acclimatise to the conditions.
“It serves us as good preparation to be facing India away from home in the Olympic year. India have done well so far, so we’re looking forward to playing them here,” said Australia skipper Aran Zalewski.
Hungry they may be after mediocre outings, but Australia will face a tough test in their first away game of the 2020 Pro League against an Indian team that has been training and playing on the same turf for months. India are acclimatised to the conditions, are confident after beating two top teams in the span of three weeks and recently rose to world No.4 in the rankings.
Under Manpreet, who last week became the first Indian to be named the FIH Player of the Year,
India are playing some of their best and most consistent hockey in years despite testing their bench strength in the four games so far.
For the Australia ties, India have made four changes to the squad of 24 selected for Belgium. Akashdeep Singh, Sumit, Simranjeet Singh and Varun Kumar have come in for Mandeep Singh, Kothajit Singh Kadangbam, Gurjant Singh and Shamsher Singh.
“After having two high-intensity matches against the world champions, we’ll be facing another strong team in Australia. We have again gone with a strong group of players who can provide us with a good balance throughout the field and help us in competing against one of the best teams in the world,” said Reid.
India also have an extra bit of an advantage in having Reid at the helm.
The Australian was assistant to the legendary Ric Charlesworth when the Kookaburras won the 2014 World Cup and was elevated to the position of head coach, which he held till 2016. Knowing the Australian setup and style of play inside-out will surely provide the Indian players some extra bit of information.
“That helps but at the end of the day, I know what the game plan is, but the players still have to execute it. There are lots of variables, but it is one of those things which you can tick off as you go,” said Reid.