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Journalism of Courage
Javed Miandad and hockey? On first glance, there’s no link. Cricket in South Asia is a religion, a passion, a subject of expertise for everyone. It is the ‘‘most professionally run’’ sport, backed by the richest sports body and has the biggest stars. Hockey, in contrast, lacks viewers, lacks stars, lacks professionalism.
Hearing Miandad speak, though, one wonders whether things are really as different as they are made out to be. In a chat with The Indian Express here, the former Pakistan captain and coach raised several issues on cricket that could have applied to hockey as well…
‘‘At the international level, the word ‘coach’ itself is wrong.’’
According to Miandad, the best someone can be expected to do at the highest level is to polish the players, try to correct the minor flaws and guide the player. There can be no adjustments in playing technique, in the natural game of a player.
‘‘If we try to change a player overnight, he will be destroyed, his game is gone’’, says Miandad. And that’s exactly what we are doing with our bowlers, trying to change their action to ‘‘correct’’ them.
In hockey, changing a player’s game is the most common thing whenever a new coach takes over. Dhanraj Pillay would swing between being centre-forward and left-half, Gagan is used anywhere from attack to defence and even Dilip Tirkey has played ahead of his position often to score a couple of goals for India.
Indeed, the changes are the rsult of the constant debate over the merits of India adopting the Asian or European style of hockey. ‘‘We cannot kill our natural instincts and skill-based game completely. Changing the player position and his action is the most serious flaw in Indian hockey’’, say former players. Wonder what VVS Laxman would have to say about that…
‘‘The grassroots must be strong’’
Miandad believes that the domestic structure needs to be strong, and that players must be groomed right from the beginning in the way they are expected to play at the top level. ‘‘We have players playing wham-bam cricket from their childhood. They continue with the same in international cricket. How can you expect players to stand guard for a whole day with such grooming? No wonder players are increasingly ‘specialising’ in ODIs and Tests’’, says Miandad. Think Yuvraj Singh, think Laxman, think Ricardo Powell.
Again, the feelings find an echo in hockey. The domestic meets are in no way comparable to the international level. ‘‘The aggressive behaviour of players in domestic tournaments, their unorganised game plan, their attacking style of hockey, is what they carry over to international level and, since it doesn’t work there, it affects the team’’, former coach Rajinder Singh had said. National meets still prefer skills, the pace is lacking, what is very important today.
