Pro League: Indian Men Promise Much But Have Plenty of Room for Improvement

The Indian men’s hockey team went into the 2024-25 Pro League on the back of an Olympic bronze win, Asian Champions Trophy triumph, and an ‘honours shared’ two Test series against world champions Germany. The need of the hour was to build on the momentum generated in recent months, and the Blueshirts appears to have leveraged the Bhubaneshwar leg of the Pro League quite well, lapping up five wins off eight games to leapfrog to the 3rd spot in the points table behind England and Belgium but more importantly, they are ahead of Olympic champions Netherlands and world champions Germany (all teams have played 8 games) – both have 14 & 13 points respectively.

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Clearly, looking from a statistical perspective, the Blueshirts may have done the job making the most of playing in front of their home crowd, but there are obvious improvement areas that merit attention even as larger challenges await the 5th ranked side in the form of away games in the Amsterdam leg against the world number one Netherlands and Argentina and the Antwerp leg against world number two Belgium and Australia in June.

The Indian deep defence gave out an impression that they did not quite had all the answers to the question posed by the opposition forwardline – the team really need to tighten up their defensive structure – more often than not they were guilty of ‘ball-watching’ and marking inside the ‘D’ left a lot to be desired. Even usually consistent skipper Harmanpreet Singh was shoddy inside the ‘D’ in a few games – the Indians allowed the opponents to break into their ‘D’ far too easily without being challenged.

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Penalty corner conversion remains a big talking point in Indian hockey – captain Harmanpreet Singh did redeemed himself with a brace against England in the eight match, after being scoreless for the first seven games, overall the India’s conversion was appalling. What is a tad concerning is that the team is struggling to profit from shorties, especially when Harmanpreet was off the pitch (he missed three games) – Jugraj Singh had a great HIL but was off-colour in the Pro League as far as short corners are concerned – same was the case with Amit Rohidas and Nilam Sanjeev Xess. 5 goals off 45 penalty corners is indeed a disappointing reading, and the team would need to find a way to score – 3 off those 5 goals came off indirect variations – it is imperative we find different ways to execute PC routine via the indirect route. Having said that, goalkeepers Krishan Pathak and Suraj Karkera deserve all the praise for their work rate throughout – both bailed the team of tough situations on so many occasions – it is indeed heartening that India have two rock-solid goalkeepers – a nice luxury to have.

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Former skipper Manpreet Singh may not grab much attention as he is not expected to score goals – but make no mistake the Punjab Police DSP put up a monumental effort throughout all eight games. He was a vital cog in the Indian midfield and with age, he seems to get better and better. His crucial defence-splitting passes and ball control and distribution was a joy to see and his performance must a music to the ears of coach Craig Fulton. Hardik Singh, returning to the national fold after undergoing an injury rehab after the 2024 Paris Olympics, asserted his presence in the Pro League. The duo of Nilakanta Sharma and Rajinder Singh also exuded strong work rate and performed a tad better than the likes of Vivek Sagar Prasad and Shamsher Singh in the midfield.

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The Indian forwardline promised so much but under-delivered. Sukhjeet Singh was the pick of the forwards – his four goals may not tell the true story of how he was able to make an impact whenever he had game time on the pitch. His Punjab National Bank colleague Abhishek Nain gave his all and it did seem that he was ‘trying too hard’ – he was looking good to score more than the 2 goals he netted. Comeback lad Dilpreet Singh made his hockey stick do the talking for him – the 25-year-old orchestrated both goals in India’s 2-0 win over Spain and was a picture of confidence upfront whenever he was afforded the opportunity to feature in the playing XI. Greenhorns Arshdeep Singh and Angad Bir Singh would be richer with the Pro League experience and it is too early assess them considering they were deployed with limited game time.

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Among the more experienced forwards, Mandeep Singh, who has attracted a lot of talk over his inability to fire at the 2024 Paris Olympics, came into his own, scoring crucial goals for the team – having said that, the 30-year-old was error-prone in the opposition ‘D’ and the 3 goals hopefully would spur him on for the final leg of the Pro League. Gurjant Singh also underpinned his utility to the side, creating immense pressure on the opposition ‘D’, even scoring crucial match-winner against Germany. Another seasoned player Lalit Upadhyay was deployed sparingly and he didn’t make much of an impact, in terms of creating or scoring goals.

Eight games in ten days was exceedingly challenging on the players. “The Bhubaneshwar leg was a like an Olympic schedule for us in a way. This is how the schedule is and the onus was on us to deliver,” says Indian men’s team coach Craig Fulton in an exclusive interview with Hockey Passion.

The Indian think tank has roped in former Australian player Mick McCann as its striker coach in a bid to improve on the team’s field goal-scoring prowess. “Look, we picked 12 forwards in the Pro League and our focus is improving our field goal conversion. With the arrival of Mick McCann, we are hoping the boys would really step it up in upcoming games,” says Fulton.

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The Indian men’s team chief coach is focused on the future roadmap. “Obviously, opposition would only make it difficult for us but we’ve got to find a way to play our style. We want to focus on our defence and convert more field goal chances. It’s not just going to happen overnight. But that’s our main focus over the next 12-16 monthsin the build-up to the World Cup,” he quips.

The former South African international elaborates on his other priorities. “Not giving away penalty corners and defending shorties are an areas to work on. At the end of the day, it all boils down to scoring more (goals) and conceding less.