Indian Hockey Eves Hope to Navigate the Challenges of Playing Eight Pro League Games in a Span of Ten Days

The inaugural Women’s Hockey India League must have served as a ‘rich learning curve’ for the Indian women players – rubbing shoulders with illustrious names such as Yibbi Janssen, Penny Squibb, Maria Verschoor, Charlotte Englebert, Kaitlin Nobbs, Freeke Moes, and Jocelyn Bartram is of course, a big deal for the Indian players – the ‘knowledge transfer’ that happens when you play with the world’s best is phenomenal, and the Indian eves must be richer with the HIL learnings.

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The morale of the Indian women’s team – ranked 9th in the world – would be high after corning glory at the Asian Champions Trophy glory at Rajgir three months back, and they would be excited to let hockey lovers know at the Bhubaneshwar leg of the 2024-25 Pro League that their performance at the Asian Champions Trophy glory was no flash in the pan. But it won’t be a piece of cake as the Blueskirts take on Olympic champions Netherlands as well as Olympic quarterfinalists Germany, Spain and England. Getting off to a good start in the Pro League is crucial and the hosts need to play their A game against teams all ranked higher than them.

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What would make it even more challenging for the Indian women team is the fact they would be playing eight matches over a span of just ten days – this means the Harendra Singh-coached Indian outfit must be at their peak fitness to navigate the challenges that come with playing eight games in quick succession. The Salima Tete-captained Indian hockey eves would be settling for nothing but ‘collective consistency’ if they are to orchestrate a great Pro League journey at Bhubaneshwar.

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In Salima, Indian has a player who is a complete player – although a natural midfielder she has shown on umpteen occasions how she motors along the pitch either manning the midfield, hurtling forward or rushing back to rescue the deep defence. She has for midfield company the talented young trio of Vaishnavi Vitthal Phalke, Sunelita Toppo, and Baljeet Kaur alongside experienced Lalremsiami and Neha Goyal, who did not have a memorable Asian Champions Trophy but looked good in the HIL while playing for Odisha Warriors. She would need to up her game as the midfield is packed with talented youngsters vying for national berths.

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The Indian deep defence wears a stout look with the likes of Sushila Chanu and Nikki Pradhan exemplifying calming influence alongside Udita – our deep defence has some exciting, young, and industrious players in Ishika Chaudhary and the ‘2 Jyotis’ – Jyoti Rumawat and Jyoti Chhatri. Our goalkeeping department has a river of experience with Savita getting better and better with age – what is heartening is that our second-choice shot-stopper Bichu Devi Kharibam is right up there – both Savita and Bichu would be high on confidence after a superb HIL campaign.

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The Indian women team’s forwardline perhaps is the most exciting lot – the presence of Deepika Sehrawat, and Sangita Kumari can pose headaches for the opposition. Rutaja Dadaso Pisal – the young Maharashtra girl – who was a revelation in the HIL, scoring twice in the final, is one player who would attract a lot of attention in national colours. Mumtaz Khan is another exciting prospect who look to make a statement amidst fierce competition for places in the forwardline and so is Beauty Dungdung.

As far as the experience quotient is concerned, veteran Vandana Katariya, Navneet Kaur and Preeti Dubey, would look to complement our young forwards. Navneet, who appeared below par in the Asian Champions Trophy as well as in the HIL would hopefully derive extra motivation from vice-captaincy responsibilities and come to the party. With a wealth of talented young strikers competing for spots in the side, the onus is on Navneet to come good as she can’t afford to rest on past laurels.

Chief coach Harendra Singh would be mindful of how the Indian hockey eves were subjected to a sequence of eight consecutive defeats in the 2023-24 Pro League against the likes of Argentina, Belgium, Germany, and Great Britain at Antwerp and London. Of course, this team is a ‘much improved and fitter’ one than the one that had featured in the 2023-24 Pro League, and one hopes that the Indian hockey eves would fight hard and make a statement in the Bhubaneshwar leg.