No packed stadium, no deafening noise, little crowd support, enormous pressure of past 2 high margin victories and even further, not at home turf - a very different environment for the Indian team as they played Pakistan today. Coach Jose Brasa had announced at the commencement of the tournament that for them the main matches are the ones against Pakistan followed by against Japan. No doubts, most of the Hockey fans were eagerly waiting for today’s game.
India got their deserved victory today. They beat a struggling Pakistan 3-2. Moreover, India beat Pakistan in almost all departments of the game.
Ticking the scoreboard early, India took 1-0 in the first minute itself; courtesy, Sandeep Singh's accurate flick. However, Pakistan was back in the game. The way Rehan Butt, with his back facing the cage, pushed the ball between his legs caught Bharat Chetri clueless that such a hit is also possible; no points to guess his push did find the goalpost board.
The 2nd goal where Shivendra Singh – his efforts will not be reflected in the score line, unfortunately - rallied in the left flank beating numerous defenders shows that this player has an immense talent. Dharamvir Singh didn’t do injustice his team-mate’s brilliant stick work.
The highlight of the game was intense play focused in mid-field. Both India and Pakistan, under the respective coaches, have hogged on to the concept of ball possession. From 1 full back to the 2nd one to one flank followed by the reverse drill to another flank - both teams were mostly seen doing this. However, Indians have displayed tremendous commitment in adopting this style of play. At times, it was interesting to see Pakistan players charging Indian defenders to take possession of the ball - a tactics which usually Australians apply which needs extreme levels of fitness.
There is a huge improvement in Indian players' fitness. Barring a few who man the opponent’s half, whole team falling back at the time of an attack, short passes while clearing the ball show how India has learnt to play under intense pressure. There is no hurry to clear the ball by a hit in mid-field or the sidelines; Indians have started using their eyes and mind more often than ever.
Indians also made it very difficult for Pakistan to penetrate the circle. Statistics will have it, in spite of the good ball possession that Pakistan had in Indian half, it should be read as: Pakistan possessed the ball in Indian half (excluding the circle). The result was obvious: India conceded only 1 PC in the whole game.
Although the goals that India conceded were momentary lapses in defense, it also display of class and exuberance of Rehan Butt and Shakeel Abbasi. Be whatever the strategy of the team, these players' game is a vivid treat if they get the ball solo. They can perform dodges which no player in the World can do.
Indian defense were almost on their task today. Instances where they failed resulted in severe penalties, mostly. One sloppy trap from Mahadik gave Pakistan a real chance; not getting the stick down in time by Gurbaj paved the way for the ball to Butt to open the score for Pak; Instinctive tackle by Prabodh cost in a PC for Pakistan; lose ball from Sandeep gave Abbasi a chance which he didn’t miss.
Apart from those stray instances, Indian defense looks much more promising than the CWG games. Sardara Singh proved his class in playing as a full back. Sandeep Singh has shown marked improvement in the defense in this year.
Most importantly, Indian defense was consistent and saw it to the end.
Indians have started doing things which they never used, foremost being ‘thinking’! When Arjun Halappa clears the ball and starts moving down the sideline, he takes a couple of seconds but passes impeccably to a loner player around center line, who passes it to Khandker who coordinates a very dangerous looking attack.
Another instance of this 'thinking' is when Tushar enters Pak circle he holds on for a minute and gives the pass to Sarvanjit. Even though Sarvanjit was on high pressure point in the D, he took a while and then banged the ball on the foot of a Pak player, resulting in a very important PC for India.
There has been marked difference in Pakistan's game. Man-to-Man marking, more of team work, and ball possession are the areas where it's difficult to believe that it's the same Pakistan team. However, the lack of innovative ideas when usual attacks were blocked, poor changing of flanks and a counter-strategy to stop India from playing it’s game cost them the match.
One may argue that the margin of victory for India was very small and given the fact that Pakistan got a chance in the dying moments of the game, it was anyone's game. However, to contain Pakistan the way India did required guts and a game-plan. It was a planned effort rather just a chance. The fact that India earned a PC in 69th minute - their victory was sealed at that moment itself no matter what the result of PC - is indicative of a fact India was thoroughly in control.
All in all, the emotions were not running high, so the only other thing remained were legs and mind. They both earned India the victory they desperately wanted to cruise into the semis.
I feel scared to confess that Indian players have forced me raise my expectations from the upcoming games!
