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Fourteen penalty corners (PC), one converted. Twenty-one shots on goal, one scored. The poor conversion rate doesn’t augur well for the Indian men’s hockey team, keeping in mind the tougher opponents to come at the Asian Champions Trophy, and at the Asian Games a month later.
While India did well to comfortably beat China in the opener, their performance was far from ideal in the 1-1 draw against Asian Games champions Japan on Friday. The competition will only get tougher, starting with Malaysia, a top 10 side in the world, who India face at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium in Chennai on Sunday.
Malaysia are known to trouble the Tokyo Olympics bronze medallists. In their last five meetings, India won two, Malaysia one with two draws.
“It’s every coach’s concern if you are not converting your chances, whether corners or field goals. We always try and work out why and try and find a solution. It’s not that we are not playing in our system. We are playing the way we want to. Against Japan too, we had two-three really good counters. Those are the ones we want to finish. We are one phase away from finishing the way we want to,” India chief coach Craig Fulton said.
A solid show in this tournament is vital for India, the world No.4 side and favourites, as it will help stamp their authority ahead of the Hangzhou Asian Games where they will face the same teams. “Being No.1 in Asia” is Fulton’s first objective. But for that the strikers and drag-flickers need to fire.
Of the eight goals India have scored in the two matches so far, only one was a field goal. The rest have come from penalty corners with the forward line coming up short several times, even failing to convert open chances, especially against Japan.
“Taking shots or not taking shots, it’s situational. We want our players to shoot, that is the No.1 objective. They have the license to do that. They make the next best decision on instinct about what’s in front of them and we back that,” said Fulton, who took over the India job in April.
“The fact that we are winning a lot of corners is good. We had a few shots. But we are still in the tournament. We got a draw. We wanted to win and had enough chances. It’s not a nice feeling, we have got to get better and be ready.”
Skipper Harmanpreet Singh has looked the best Indian drag-flicker, scoring three goals, carrying the momentum from the 2022-23 FIH Pro League where he was top-scorer in the year-long tournament with 18 goals. But the PC battery, including Amit Rohidas, Jugraj Singh and Varun Kumar, hasn’t looked convincing though the latter scored a brace against China.
“Everyone tried but Japan defended very well. At the end of the day, we got a goal from a PC. In the next matches we will try to keep it in mind and do better. We have no pressure. We know what we are doing. We have been doing it for quite some time. We will try to give our best, attack areas that give us goals and also try something new,” said the skipper.
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