The India-Pakistan series has been a resoundingsuccess. It also demolished the myth that people no longer watch hockey. Indiamay have lost the series has proved beyond doubt that hockey still touches a bigchord in every Indian heart.
Just as the series ended, there was news that India hadgot a call for the Champions Trophy. This is great news. This is a God-sendopportunity for the players and coach Gerhard Rach. To be able to play the bestteams in the world in a premier event is indeed an honour.
The Pakistan-leg provided huge crowds across the borderand when the series came to India, some murmurs were heard after the openingmatch in Delhi, which did not attract as big a crowd as the National Stadiumcould have accommodated. Yet, believe me, about 8,000-10,000 people on a workingday and in the afternoon at 1.30 pm means hockey is still the national sport ofthis country.
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The smaller stadiums in Punjab showed that the game isalive and kicking and there are enough supporters for it. When the last matchwas held at Hyderabad, the atmosphere was terrific -- under the lights and witha decent crowd around. To add to that India won. That is what can happen tohockey, if everything around it is right.
In the absence of quality international hockey and eventhe National Championships, we had almost begun to believe that people no longerwanted to see hockey. The fact is there was no hockey, so how could peopledecide whether or not they wanted to see it.
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Also for the players, many of whom seemed new names tothe public, got a chance to show their worth. With no Nationals, and only thegraded tournaments taking place, there was no platform for them to show theirmettle. They may have some way to go, but at least the public has seen some ofthem.
We have been talking about Adrian D'Souza as a greatgoalkeeper, and after the Olympics, he has been able to show his class at homeas well.
Dilip Tirkey has emerged as the pillar of the team.Ignace Tirkey, Vikram Pillay, Sandeep Michael and Viren Rasquinha have alsoshown good performances, but I will be happy to see more goals. The penaltycorners are the big hole in our plans.
Sandeep Singh is too inconsistent. Also ball stoppingduring set pieces needs to be worked on. We need variations to catch theopposition off-guard. Then to supplement that, we need our players to be alertto avoid conceding goals off counter attacks.
Above all, taking time to settle down and not going allout till the last second is going to be another area of worry for Rach. Therewere some loopholes in trapping and off-the-ball running too requiresimprovement.
Having said that, I must also admit that the side hasenough talent to improve on these areas of concern.
This will be the third successive year we will be goingto the Champions Trophy and next year the event is at home. So, these twochances should be used to ensure that the Indian team is in perfect shape forthe assault on the Asian Games gold medal.
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The junior World Cup will be held next year and many ofthe players who played the series against Pakistan will be in the team. Theyhave now got the taste of top class hockey and more is to come in the ChampionsTrophy.
And yes, despite the series loss, Indian hockey has alot to look forward to.
PTI
