Control and defence are the two things Craig Fulton craves the most from his hockey teams. On Saturday, against Australia, both these things went completely missing from India's gameplan as they opened their campaign down under with a deserving 1-5 loss. The expectation was that Fulton's India would come up with a better defensive performance against their nemesis, but it ended up being a classic India vs. Australia scoreline in favour of the team in yellow.
An afternoon to forget
Before the match, in a chat with the broadcasters, Fulton claimed he wanted his team to start well and control proceedings. A few moments later, in only the third minute of the match, Australia converted from their first real opportunity at goal. The Indian players were slow to react to Tim Brand's run and eventual shot and just like that, it was 1-0. Fulton's pre-match talk went for a toss and this was just the sign of things to come.
Almost all the players were committing silly errors -- mistraps, miscontrols, slow reactions, no pressing and zero creativity. Like Fulton had his tryst with irony when the first goal was scored, something similar was about to happen with Manpreet too. In the second quarter, a trademark Manpreet sprint from the midfield resulted in a penalty corner for India. The score was then 1-0 and India had a good chance at goal, but before even Harmanpreet could have a go, Manpreet mistrapped the injection and the chance was spurned
It was that kind of day. The silliness quotient would only increase as the match progressed.
Another example was when Sukhjeet Singh had a chance to break forward after winning the ball in the midfield. He ran with Mandeep Singh ahead of him, the pass was a good one to Mandeep inside the box but the experienced forward failed to control the ball.
In fact, when the players broke for a break at the end of second quarter, that it was only 2-0 to Australia was indeed a surprise, considering how poor India were in the first 30 minutes. The second goal came via Tom Wickham, who executed a brilliant attacking move to double the lead.
Any hope that things would improve for India post the break ended up being futile. Eight minutes after the restart, Australia scored two goals in quick succession. Joel Rintala came up with a lovely finish from the left while Wickham scored his second of the afternoon with a smashing shot from the right. 4-0 and there was no way India could turn it around, especially in this match.
In the final quarter, Gurjant Singh did well to score India's first goal, a thumping finish coming from a counter-attack after Krishan Pathak blocked a Jeremy Hayward penalty corner. But that was followed by another bizarre mistake, this time Amit Rohidas casually trying to clear the ball with the back of his stick. A penalty corner was given which was converted by Flynn Ogilvie on the rebound.
What's next?
In a match like this, when absolutely nothing worked for India, it's equally important to forget it as soon as possible. Especially since they turn up tomorrow at the same time, same place, against the same opponents. It may not be such a bad thing to play so quickly again considering they also quickly move on from this torrid affair.
Also, Hardik Singh might be available to play tomorrow, which will likely to improve things for India on the pitch. Today Fulton rested India's key midfielder as he wanted to try other players. Without him in the middle of the pitch, India had zero control and zero creativity.
India were simply not ready today, but if they come up with a similar kind of performance on Sunday as well, it's going to spell more trouble for Fulton who's trying to prepare this team for the Olympics.