It was touted as the year which could herald a change in the fortunes of Indian hockey, but 2018 turned out to be yet another saga of missed opportunities for the sport.
Much was expected from the three big ticket events — the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and the World Cup — but rather than living upto expectations, 2018 turned out to be a year of 'what-could-have-been' for the eight-time Olympic champions.
At the start of the year, India were expected to defend their Asian Games title and directly qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. They were also expected to make the semifinals at the World Cup in Bhubaneswar, but all those hopes never turned into reality.
In world rankings, India started the year at number six and ended at fifth, summing up an unaccomplished 2018.
The only constant in Indian hockey in the year was frequent "chopping and changing" — from player to coach — after every debacle.
In the 27th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup veteran Sardar Singh returned to lead the side but India had a disappointing outing there, managing only a win and a draw to finish a dismal fifth.
And then the side loss to England in the bronze medal match at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in April.
However in the final edition of the Champions Trophy in Breda, India recorded its best result of the year, finishing second after losing to Australia in the shoot-out.
India went into the Asiad as favourites to retain the gold medal but it was not to be as the defending champions lost to Malaysia in a shoot-out in the semifinal, eventually returning with a consolation Bronze.
In the ACT, India shared the honours with Pakistan after the final was washed out.
But change remained the only constant for Indian hockey, and this time Harendra decided to make wholesome changes in the WC squad, putting his faith on World Cup-winning junior players in place of experienced campaigners like Rupinder Pal Singh and SV Sunil among others.
In the WC, the young brigade was expected to rewrite history after 43 years but that was not to be as after an impressive pool campaign, during which they drew 2-2 with Belgium, the home team lost 1-2 to Netherlands to crash out in the quarterfinals. Nonetheless, the Indians did impress and finished sixth in the WC, their best finish in the mega-event after securing the fifth spot in the 1994 edition in Sydney.