Top Stories

FIH Hockey Pro League: India go aerial before crash landing against familiar foes Australia in a crazy match

February 15, 2024
chandanmalana

The 60 minutes on a breezy night under lights against Australia neatly summarised the 60 years of Indian hockey since they stopped being the world masters. Suffering, comeback, hope before things, eventually, fall apart.

On Thursday at the Kalinga, there were at least two elements that aren’t usually associated with an Indian performance against Australia – comeback and hope. For those clinging on to some positives to take away from India’s 4-6 defeat in the FIH Pro League, it would be that.

The tennis set-like scoreline doesn’t reflect how good India were – albeit in spells – and how unfair the final score might feel to the players who left everything on the field.

There were spells in the match when Blake Govers, one of world hockey’s deadliest goal-scorers, resembled a goalkeeper trying to save a penalty kick. Raising both his arms, swinging them wildly in the air, and dancing.

Unlike the wily shot-stoppers, the scorer of two goals in the first two minutes of the match wasn’t just trying to throw off his opponents. It was also a desperate attempt by a bunch of rattled players to block a pass.

With Australia intercepting everything India played along the dark blue turf, the home side showed rare tactical ingenuity – especially while playing the Kookaburras – to make the dark sky above, their canvas. India turned to a style they have tried before but seldom against Australia: aerial passes.

Festive offer
Hockey The tennis set-like scoreline doesn’t reflect how good India were – albeit in spells – and how unfair the final score might feel to the players who left everything on the field. (Hockey India)

Every bit was compelling to watch. Australia were faster off the blocks than a 100m sprinter. Govers gave them a two-goal lead inside the first three minutes, one from a penalty corner (a soft goal where ’keeper Krishan Pathak could have done better) and the second a thunderous field goal.

The two-goal burst triggered fears of another spanking at the hands of Australia. More so because Australia were playing as if there were 22 of them on the field and not 11 – closing down Indian players within seconds of them receiving the ball and easily intercepting passes.

So, Harmanpreet Singh and Manpreet Singh began to play long floating passes to disrupt Australia’s rhythm. And disrupt they did. The two most experienced outfield players lobbed the ball deep into the Australian ‘D’, putting the defenders in a deep conundrum. Other Indian players, too, joined in as India lifted even simple short passes to beat the Australian stick, which was rooted to the ground in anticipation of the usual, grounded passes.

In doing so, India’s players showed impeccable technical abilities as they took utmost advantage of hockey’s five-metre rule for aerial balls. The regulations dictate that a player must not infringe upon the 5m territory of the opponent receiving the aerial ball until it is controlled and on the ground.

The receivers of the long passes from Harmanpreet, Manpreet and, occasionally, Hardik Singh positioned themselves smartly inside the Australian box, giving them enough space to launch attacks.

Three of India’s four goals originated from aerial balls.

For the first, Hardik – on the left – played a cross-field aerial pass to Sumit, who won a penalty corner after drawing a foul from Matt Dawson. Harmanpreet, who seemingly can do no wrong at the moment, fired his flick at an angle to find the inside of the post.

The equaliser came minutes later. Jarmanpreet Singh played a defensive lobbed ball to Harmanpreet, who lobbed it forward towards Raj Kumar Pal. The midfielder found a defender’s foot and won a corner. The sustained spell of pressure led to a goal as Sukhjeet Singh completed the move with a shot that went between the legs of Australian goalkeeper Andrew Charter.

Manpreet’s aerial pass in the 20th minute gave India the lead. An Australian defender encroached upon the 5m space of the Indian receiver, resulting in a penalty corner which Harmanpreet once again converted.

Until India were able to stick to this plan, they had the Aussies pinned to the mat. They did the rare and unthinkable of turning a two-goal deficit into a two-goal advantage after Mandeep Singh scored a fine field goal thanks to a defence-splitting Harmanpreet pass.

But the moment they gave up control and their bread-and-butter tactic, India disintegrated. Australia just had to manage the landing zones of India’s lobbed passes better to completely negate the strategy.

If India thought they finally found a way to challenge the Aussies, they snuffed it out within minutes. For all the progress India has made, it showed how much ground there is still left to cover.

Indeed, Pro League performances come with a rider as the tournament is a testing ground for big events. But the numbers don’t lie. From the Tokyo Olympics till now, Australia have scored five or more goals against India seven times – on three of those occasions, they netted seven.

And as India coach Craig Fulton summed up after the match, a team can’t expect to win if they concede six.

Source link

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *