India turn to defence for Paris ticket

During the grand and sentimental pre-departure send-off ceremony organised by the Hockey India earlier this month, literally every player from the men’s team said their goal is to win gold at the Hangzhou Asian Games. Their aureate quest, apart from bringing them fame and laurels, is to secure the automatic ticket for next year’s Paris Olympics.

So, can they walk the talk? It’s certainly possible given the current form they are in but then the Indians have been often guilty of bungling up in crunch matches in big-ticket events against steely opponents, and there are countries with the potential to hurt them this time too. An example being in Indonesia five years ago where they lost to Malaysia via shootout in the semifinals before settling for a bronze.

Having said that the Indians arrived in Hangzhou with their tails up following a fine triumph in the Asian Champions Trophy in Chennai in August. Pitched in Pool A along with Uzbekistan, Singapore, Japan, Pakistan and Bangladesh, the Indians shouldn’t face much hiccups in making it to the semifinals. It’s what they do in the next two matches that’ll matter the most. 

A big concern for India is the drastic change in philosophy new coach Craig Fulton has tried to implement in the short duration he has been in. A strong believer in defensive hockey, Fulton has categorically said that would be his mantra, despite being aware that that has been India’s Achilles Heel for generations. 

Deep defence, something which the Germans and the Netherlands are masters at, requires oodles of patience, concentration and a special intuition to pick the right moment to attack. Keeping the ball with themselves, especially in their own half for long periods, constant interchanges, sometimes with little purpose, drawing the opponents in before finding the right pass forward is first honed at grassroots level before being perfected at the top level.

The Indians, on the contrary, love to play attacking hockey and defending - especially deep defending - is a skill that’s barely thought at any level. Right from school to university, most coaches emphasise on attack and that’s how players have grown up into. Coaches in the past have tried defensive hockey with India and failed miserably. They figured either attacking or counter-attacking with focus to maintain some defensive discipline is the way forward.

So can the Indians play a brand of hockey contrary to their nature? Or will they buy into Fulton’s philosophy at such short notice and land the double? Answers will be known in a fortnight.