How will you evaluate India’s overall performance at the Hockey World league (HWl)IJ
The main goal was qualifying for the World Cup (2014). We have been champions at eight Olympics. We were a superpower in hockey and the game was extremely popular all over the country. We have produced numerous legendary players since long before I started playing. But we have come a long way since then and have a lot of work to do before we regain that position again. The performance at HWl was not very good. The Indian team’s performance is inconsistent. Sometimes they play really well and at other times they falter. We need to improve in every department of the game. If they continue to play like this, then it will be difficult to qualify for the World Cup.
We have three dragflickers in the Indian team. But still our penalty corner conversion rate is not very good. What is the reason behind thisIJ
I have watched their performance during the Hockey India league (HIl). Sandeep had converted a lot of penalty corners during that tournament. But he is not able to score against the big teams. A player should analyze his own performance and try to eliminate his flaws. When teams like Holland or Australia get five penalty corners, they will convert around three or four of those. The Indian team does create a lot of penalty corners and we need to take those chances. I had a lot of hope on Sandeep. But he scores against the smaller teams and struggles against strong teams.
How will you rate the performance of the junior players in the Indian teamIJ
They faced really tough competition at the HWl. It takes a lot of time and hard work to develop a really good player. We had to work hard for 14-15 years before we reached where did. We cannot expect the junior players to start performing miracles after just one year in the senior team because other teams are much better than us. I have always maintained that our forward line needs to be absolutely top class in terms of skill, technique and ball control.
Now we need to win the Asia Cup in order to qualify for the World Cup. How do you see India’s chancesIJ
Hockey is not exciting enough without India and Pakistan. I had watched the Beijing Olympics where India did not qualify and the competition did not seem spicy enough. We must qualify for the World Cup come what may. Otherwise we will have to live with the ignominy that we have missed qualifying for the Olympics as well as the World Cup.
How much benefit did the Indian players get by playing in the HIlIJ
The HIl increased the popularity of hockey. We had players from all over the world but there is huge gap in standards between the HIl and international hockey, but having said that, we need tournaments like the HIl. We should also play test matches against top teams. Even if we lose those matches, we should not get disheartened but strive to plug our loopholes.
Most memorable match of your careerIJ
We were playing against West Germany and conceded five goals during the first half. During the half time, one of my friends, who had gone to watch the match, remarked that it was impossible to comeback from 0-5 down. But I replied that the match is not yet over. Sure enough we scored five goals during the second half and the match ended in a 5-5 draw.