Indian hockey: Stretchered off the turf

When France struck the first blow in the ninth minute, it was only an indication of things to come. It was a brilliantly executed move, Frederic Soyez moving past the Indian defence and passing the ball to an unmarked Nicolas Gaillard who slotted the ball in.

The second came in the 26th minute, a superb solo effort from skipper Antoine Moreau, who got the ball near the half line, dodged past three Indian defenders to slam home.

Four minutes later, it became 3-0 when Sebastien Jean Jean scored off a rebound.

Though India managed to reduce the margin through a penalty corner in the last minute of the first half, there were never any real scares for the French goal.

Now, this result makes three things crystal clear. One, that this Indian team is far from being the best the nation can offer. Two, that without India’s three best players — Adrian D’Souza, Viren Rasquinha and Vikram Pillay — the team is practically impotent and there is practically zero bench strength. And three, there are far too many passengers in the side.

Which made it difficult for the team coaches to explain the debacle. ‘‘It was pathetic,’’ was all Jagbir Singh could say. And A B Subbaiah added, ‘‘We can only do so much, the players have to take things seriously and play their game in the middle.’’

Did the players take the match lightly? ‘‘Yes, they did,’’ was Jagbir’s terse observation.

Tuesday could just add to the mess, unless Team India can pull up their socks and get serious.

Fans mourn ‘death’ of an Indian game

Scenes not pretty, but probably justified took place at the Shivaji Stadium today, the sort of which haven’t been seen in Indian hockey in recent memory. As the half time hooter sounded — with India down 1-3 — the few hundred people who had turned up to see the match were on their feet, shouting slogans against IHF president KPS Gill, the players, the team, and anyone they could think of. Among the slogans were calls for the second Test (on Tuesday) to be cancelled to avoid further humiliation.

At the end of the match, with the crowd getting more and more restive and the possibilities of ugly scenes really high, stadium officials whisked the players away to avoid the crowd getting at them. The game, at least in the minds of those present here, is dead.