'Change In Strategy Required'

After the agonising defeat against the Netherlands and a hard-fought victoryagainst a second-string German team, coach Rajinder Singh has to alter hisstrategy to put India back on track in the elite championship.

India's inconsistency in the first two matches is hard to explainparticularly after their superb display in recent tournaments in Sydney andHamburg. The mid-fielders have left much to be desired and Rajinder Singh has nochoice but to shuffle his mid-fielders and hope the team regains the rhythmbefore it is too late.

With the mid-fielders and the defenders being quite disappointing, I thinkVikram Pillay should be used in the mid-field which has been the area ofconcern. Ignace Tirkey is not at his best while Viren Rasquinha has not beenable to control the ball. There were no intelligent passes from the mid-field tothe forwards which has frustrated the strikers.

The Indians managed to earn full points against the energetic young Germans butit was not a performance which would would draw much inspiration. Many wouldhave thought that the Indians would steamroll the experimental German side, butit turned out to be a different story.

What an amazing display by the Germans. They were solid in their trapping,passing, tackling and kept the experienced Indians at bay till the 69th minuteof the contest.

Obviously, coach Rajinder Singh must be a relieved man after the narrow winbut he has a tough job at hand to revitalise the team after an indifferent startto their campaign. The shoddy display in the first two matches has cast a doubton India's prospects of breaking the Champions Trophy jinx. The team has toprove that they can still stage a comeback -- they certainly have the skill todo so.

The communication gap between the deep defenders while marking the opponentsinside the striking circle is another factor which needs to be addressed. Atthis level of hockey the body language is not enough. One such situation sawthree German forwards in front of goalkeeper Devesh Chauhan which resulted intheir first goal being scored by Sperling. No Indian defender marked the Germanswhich is quite unthinkable. Conceding goals like this will be a major problem.The sooner they rectify this problem, the better it is for the team.

Though the German defenders matched the Indian forwards, I will give full creditto Deepak Thakur, Gagan Ajit Singh and Prabhjot Singh. They kept challenging theGerman defenders and exploited the vacant spaces very well. The authoritativedisplay by these forwards helped India score all the three field goals.

Gagan Ajit is turning out to be the star player while Deepak is getting backhis confidence. Prabhjot has a lot of skill and the good thing is that he stillimproving. The trio will have a crucial role to play in the remaining matches.

Although the forwards are doing a decent job, the same cannot be said of themid-fielders and defenders. Rajinder Singh should shuffle his mid-field andbring in Vikram Pillay who is a very good player and needs to be given moreopportunities.

The coach should also bring the long passes into play particularly from thewings. Most of the attacks will be fruitful when the forwards start playing fromthese areas. So far, all the field goals in the first two matches have comethrough this system of play.

But this can only be possible when the coach deploys Saini, Vikram, Viren andIgnace in the mid-field. Most of these players have not really lived upto theirreputations as individuals or in the team system.

Rajinder Singh should stress that they play 'free zone' hockey with quickpasses and joining the attack in the process. This will enhance the rhythm ofthe game between the forwards and the mid-fielders.

Even in the match against Germany, all the three goals scored by the Indianswere due to the effort initiated by the mid-fielders, but they could do thatonly in the last ten minutes.

It is surprising that captain Dhanraj Pillay and veteran Baljit Singh Dhillonhave been nowhere near their best in the two matches. They have lost ballpossession quite often. It is true that they had been closely marked, but withtheir experience they should be able to make a bigger impact. If they can findtheir best form, the Indian attack will look far more menacing.

The Indians will get the much-needed rest before taking on Australia. It willalso give them time to regroup and come back to the field with more passion anddetermination.

PTI