'Losing to Pakistan unthinkable, Champions Trophy was special' says Mandeep Singh

The tension in the air was palpable as two of the games oldest adversaries made their way on to the center to face off for the one-hundredth time outside the subcontinent.

As the national anthem was played out and the impassioned supporters waved the tricolour with gusto, Indian television viewers almost 5000 miles away could sense the adrenaline flowing as Sreejesh and his boys lined up before the action. The proceedings began on a cautious and rather nervy note as both sides tested each other out in the midfield.

"We wanted Pakistan to get a taste of Indian masala"

As the match progressed, the genial and ever-affable Indian striker Mandeep Singh wore an intense look as he probed the Pakistani defence in the opener of the Champions Trophy hockey tournament at Breda.

The 23-year-old drifted in behind the unsuspecting Pakistani defenders and engineered a PC out of nowhere at the end of the first quarter and combined brilliantly with Lalit to earn yet another at the beginning of the second. Fellow strikers Ramandeep and Dilpreet scored as the Indians kept up the pressure on their arch-rivals, unwilling to concede an inch.

The Jalandhar lad found the back of the net in the final quarter to register India's third goal when goalie Imran Butt was taken off which effectively knocked the wind out of Pakistan's sails. Lalit pumped in a fourth just as the final hooter went off and delirious Indian fans could hardly conceal the jubilation.

"We did not want our countrymen to face the bitterness of a loss to Pakistan. After the 2-2 draw in the CWG, we were devastated as we had won six matches on the trot before that. In the Champions Trophy, we wanted to beat them by a big margin. We wanted Pakistan to get a taste of Indian masala," says Mandeep Singh, the man who so effortlessly seemed to make things happen in the opposition circle.

He was unlucky as well as his pushes seemed to strike the post quite often just as it did when he scooped one past Vincent Vanasch. The Belgian goalie may have got the faintest of touches but the ball ricocheted off the post much to the relief of the Red Lions.

The Dutch were not quite so lucky and even Sam Van Der Ven's brilliance in goal wasn't enough to stop Mandeep from scoring. He was brilliant against Olympic champs Argentina as well, scoring India's second goal.

Mandeep Singh was perseverant just as he was tireless at Breda and the Champions Trophy will be a tournament he will always cherish said the Indian striker in an exclusive chat with Sportskeeda.

Sportskeeda: You have been playing at the senior level for almost 5 years now. Which are the tournaments you will always remember?

Mandeep Singh: Champions Trophy, as a tournament has always been special for me. Two years back, we had given it everything we had in the final against Australia. Bad luck played a part in 2016 as the match went into a shootout where we lost.

This time, I feel our performance was even better as we beat Olympic champions Argentina in the pool match and played really well against Belgium. The expectation was that we would win the final because of our superior positioning, and if we had taken our chances, the score could have been 4-1 or even 5-1. This time again, bad luck played a part or we could definitely have won gold.

"We were prepared for an India-Australia final again"

Sportskeeda: Did you expect history to repeat itself? Were you expecting to be in the final again and face the Aussies like in 2016?

Mandeep Singh: After we won the second match against Argentina, we knew we had a chance of reaching the final and also knew that most likely, we would face Australia in the final.

On our rest days, we used to watch the matches Australia played to get an understanding of their strengths and weaknesses. We were fully prepared for the final against the Aussies. We had more than an inkling that the final would be another India-Australia affair.

Sportskeeda: The coordination in the striking circle in the Champions Trophy was much better than at Gold Coast. How did the transformation happen?

Mandeep Singh: After we returned from the CWG, we took some time to retrospect on what went wrong and realized that we did extremely well to enter the D multiple times but were erring in the D by not connecting on to assists or not being able to take shots on goal.

When we started our training camp, coach Harendra Singh conducted separate sessions only for the strikers for us to get a better idea of when to take a hard crack at goal and when to push the ball deftly. We worked very hard on those aspects and made a note of all that we had learned.

In the Champions Trophy, we implemented exactly that and managed to improve our coordination in the circle. Previously, we used to waste chances following circle penetrations but at Breda, every time we entered the circle, we either scored, took a shot at goal, or earned a PC.

Dilpreet performed really well. He needs to work a little more to learn to combine with the rest of us. Of course, the rest of us have played together a lot and know how to combine with each other. When I was young and made my senior debut, I felt a little under pressure but he does not seem to be under any kind of pressure at all. He has learned to combine very well with me.

With the others as well, his combination will grow with time.

Mandeep beats Vanasch but his scoop hits the post

Sportskeeda: Akashdeep could not make it and Ramandeep could play just one match. How tough was it without them and how is Ramandeep now?

Mandeep Singh: Akashdeep was injured before the tournament. We missed the presence of a senior striker but Ramandeep was there (in the first match), and Sunil too, and we did quite well. We did miss Akash, but he has made a comeback now for the Asian Games, so that is encouraging for all of us.

Ramandeep is a bit dejected, but all of us take turns to meet him in his room and cheer him up. We all tell him that he is a key member of the team and that he will be fit in time for the World Cup at the end of the year. We keep him motivated and in good spirits.

Sportskeeda: Tell us what transpired following your goal which was disallowed as the Indians seemed to be caught unawares. Were you disappointed at the number of times your shots struck the post?

Mandeep Singh: A lot of shots struck the post which was quite disappointing. This happened against Belgium and against Australia. When I watched the videos later, I felt I should have taken a little more time before attempting the shots on goal.

In the match against Belgium, I had accidentally indulged in a bit of body play outside the shooting circle so I knew that the same may be adjudged to be a foul. At certain times, however, the play is allowed to continue for similar infringements so I went ahead with my run and put the ball in the net.

My teammates, however, were unaware of the infringement and as soon as the ball entered the net, ran towards me to celebrate the goal. At that moment, the Belgians found space to launch a quick counter-attack which caught us totally unawares and we have to thank Sreejesh who stood firm or we would have had to pay the price.

"Sreejesh is the best goalkeeper in the world"

Sportskeeda: How would you describe Sreejesh's performance at Breda?

Mandeep Singh: Sreejesh, for us, is like a precious diamond and he has saved the day for us many a time. I often tell Sreejesh that he is the best goalkeeper in the world. He not only saves goals but uses his booming voice to good effect.

I do not know of any other goalkeeper who screams out instructions as much, and as loudly as Sreejesh does to tell us how to position ourselves to engage in man-to-man tackles. He has an energy that is infectious and even though he does not run as much as we do, he makes up for it with his vociferous encouragement and instructions.

Quite naturally and deservedly, he won the Best Goalkeeper Award which is a testament to his prowess.

Sportskeeda: India may well face Pakistan again in the Asian Games. Do you feel we are now superior to Pakistan?

Mandeep SIngh: I feel India is the superior team. We should never lose to Pakistan and we will never lose to Pakistan. We applied a lot of pressure on them in the match. We play well against all the teams, but against Pakistan, we feel a different kind of energy within us as we do not wish to lose against them at any cost.

Sportskeeda: In the past, we used to play one great match and then lose the next day. This time, we beat Argentina just after beating Pakistan which was quite amazing. How did the team manage to keep up the tempo?

Mandeep Singh: We played two great matches one after the other. After the match with Pakistan, we beat Argentina the very next day. We have often discussed in the team meetings about our inability to win two matches on the trot. All the senior players had told us to stay grounded in spite of the win against Pakistan and focus on the next match.

We were aiming to play the second match even better than we did in the first and that was precisely what we did.

Sportskeeda: Tell us a little about your childhood and what drew you to hockey.

Mandeep Singh: I belong to Mithapur, Jalandhar which is also Pargat Singh's hometown. Manpreet Singh and Varun Kumar are also from my village.

My elder brother used to play hockey. At the age of 7, I developed an interest in the game although I was also interested in cricket. I used to take my hockey kit and meander off to the cricket ground.

My father noticed that I wasn't turning up at the hockey ground for 2 or 3 days. He then enticed me to play hockey instead of cricket. I then realized that my family wanted me to play hockey and were ready to support me as well. Hockey was also our national game and that spurred me on to take up hockey in a big way.

I joined a hostel when I was 11 years old and continued playing. A couple of years later, I joined the Surjit Hockey Academy where I honed my skills for the next five years. I represented Punjab in the nationals. I was then selected for the junior camp and the Hockey India League also started the same year.

I scored lots of goals (10 goals in 13 matches) in the HIL and was then selected for the senior camp in 2013.

Sportskeeda: After a great performance in the Champions Trophy, how confident is the team of doing well at the World Cup?

Mandeep Singh: Our focus currently is to win the Asian Games and after that, we will work towards doing well at the World Cup.

The World Cup will be played at Bhubaneswar and the crowd there is simply amazing. We are making progress with some great practice sessions on a daily basis and will do well for sure.