Inconsistency has been Indian hockey’s ‘biggest problem area’ over the years – I dare say this despite being fully aware that our national men’s team have strung together so many famous wins over top sides in recent years.
Deriving joy from watching our side topple sides like the Netherlands, Australia, Germany, Great Britain and Belgium is altogether a big feeling but when you look at how inconsistent the Indian team have been in recent years will leave you wondering whether this team really have the ‘mental toughness’ and ‘day in day out intensity’ to regularly beat top-notch sides at marquee events.
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Sample the 25th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup – India start off with a sloppy 2-1 win over Japan – let us not forget that Japan are a rapidly improving side. India were again given some fight by Canada before they won 3-1. Up against Australia, India struggled to bring their A-game to the fore slumping to a 1-5 defeat.
Of course, the team regrouped well to rout Pakistan 5-1 – obviously pipping Pakistan gives you huge amount of satisfaction considering the fierce rivalry both teams have, but they undid all that as they were handed a 1-2 defeat by New Zealand. Even at the Hockey World League Final Round in Raipur, India showed bouts of inconsistency – a 0-3 loss to Argentina followed by a 1-1 draw against Germany and 1-3 defeat to the Netherlands.
A surprising 2-1 win over Great Britain in the quarterfinals followed by a 0-1 loss to Belgium in the semifinals, followed by that historic win over the Dutch in the bronze medal play-off tie, sum up our inconsistent ways.
Consistency is one thing where Australia will score very highly – they win games consistently and that too, with big margins. Yes, they do have their occasional off days but their overall consistency is remarkable, something even teams like the Netherlands and Germany have not been able to churn out.
Clearly, Roelant Oltmans needs to step up as head coach. Lack of consistency has brought to fore the role of the coach. It does seems that the team is missing the stature of Terry Walsh, who quietly went about his business and made hockey fans believe that a process is firmly entrenched to get the desired results.
Ask any Indian hockey player, they still believe (off course, they may not say it on record) Terry Walsh was the one who sowed the seeds of ‘self-belief’ and ‘tenacity’ in this team. One must say that Oltmans hasn’t quite been able to fast-track the process set by Walsh.
One is not trying to be harsh on Oltmans, but with the Rio Olympics round the corner, such inconsistency is unpardonable and no team is going to spare us.
There is an urgent need for the Indian team to stop looking ‘awesome’ one day and ‘pedestrian’ the other day. This is getting frustrating for our hockey fans – the team had no business to lose to New Zealand after beating Pakistan hands down a day before.
One is not sure if Oltmans is down with poor form as head coach and from Indian hockey’s perspective, it is imperative he hits top form and not just pin the blame on players for our inconsistency and underperformance.
