Great stuff, indeed — India have learnt to score

GOAL-KEEPING:
Jude displayed the goal-keeping skills that are not normally seen by Indian ‘keepers. He showed poise, confidence and class as he held the fort by saving numerous flicks from penalty corners that came to him like thunderbolts. His anticipation was good. Full credit to him.

OUR DEFENCE:
It did give away far too many easy fouls that led to penalty corners. Fortunately, Argentina did not convert as Jude stood firm. Dilip Tirkey and Dinesh Nayak must hold their sticks much firmer as many a time the ball deflected/ricocheted off them. Also the basic stance of a defender who does not want to give away a penalty corner is to keep your feet behind the stick and not expose to the opposition.

OUR MIDFIELD:
Was too impatient in the first half and did not really settle down. It needed to move the ball among itself to let our forwards create gaps before releasing up front. This explains Argentina’s dominance for the first 25 minutes.

There are, however, some plus points. Thiruvalvan’s closing down, and Baljit Siani’s attacking and defensive skills. Our forwards must learn to keep possession when within the 25 yardline. If we do that then we will not be susceptible to counter attacks. When we have the ball in the circle along the back line (zero-angle) we must try and earn a penalty corner. We had at least five opportunities but earned just one penalty corner, created by Dhanraj. We need to have more penetrations in the circle and more men up front in the `Dee.’ Players have to move behind the defence to permit our ball carriers some room to fire themselves or to pass.

THE GOALS: Without taking any credit from our players, the Argentines played an uncharacteristic game. Carlos, the Argentinian right defender was shown the yellow card just when we earned our first penalty corner. This caused some turmoil in their penalty corner charge.

The penalty corner drive by Tirkey was deflected by goalkeeper Pablo’s outstretched stick, and fell behind their second line of defence, to an unmarked Samir Dad, who had moved inwards for the rebound. When the ball came at him, he had the presence of mind to pick up the rising ball a la Tendulkar style and smash it to the roof of the net. Argentina committed a tactical blunder here.

Pillay played a square ball to Baljit Dhillon who carried it up-front with no one closing him down. He then passed the ball to an unmarked Mukesh who had moved to the left and slammed it into the net. I must mention here that when Dhillon was carrying the ball it was Samir Dad and Pillay who moved deep into the circle behind the defenders that created the gap for Mukesh. Great stuff.

Argentina earned a free hit on the left hand side inside the rivals’ 25. They broke the cardinal rule that any defender should be knowing. They played the ball from the left pocket towards the circle, with a few of our forwards lurking around. The ball was deflected by a lunging Dhillon who tried to anticipate the pass and bisected the entire defence, landing in the path of Samir Dad on top of the circle and who, against the sway of his body, adjusted superbly to slam it home.

For me the main plus points of this victory were the fact that India managed to put aside fears and inhibitions of the past and believed that they could win. Baskaran’s statement that there is still room for improvement shows that he was not letting this victory cloud his judgement as he remains focussed. Yes the strategy worked to a nicety, now he must plan and prepare the team for sterner tests ahead. As always, I wish him and the team every success.

(The author is National hockey selector and a former coach)