India skating on thin ice

Dileep Tirkey has been outstanding in defence, though he needs a left shoulder. The other shining light has been Len Aiyappa’s dragflicking. With superb strikes from penalty corners, Aiyappa has proved the flaw in the decision to keep leaving him out. Instead of developing two specialists they focussed on Jugraj, whose injury left a gaping hole.

The team’s confidence level should be high so that India can play its natural brand of attacking hockey. In the coming matches, which are tougher than the first two, India will have to go on the offensive from the start or they will run out of rescue actors.

India’s next game against Malaysia is not as easy as it sounds. Malaysia are a tough opposition, especially at home. They were brilliant against Australia in terms of speed, system, and strategy. Though they lost, they played better than India who are yet to establish their worth. India’s midfield has been the weakest link and it needs to be strengthened in this game, or it will be caught out. It was completely neglected territory before Bimal Lakra was brought in in the last 20 minutes against New Zealand. Both the teams are good at penalty corners, variations will be the key tomorrow.