Pause. rewind. play.

The team, which experts say underlines the fact that there is no system in the country to groom players and ensure their smooth transition from the junior level, includes two stalwarts of the 90s8212;winger Mukesh Kumar and Baljit Singh Dhillon.

Mercurial Dhanraj Pillay is the captain but, at 35, surely he8217;s one for the past; the future belongs to the younger Dilip Tirkey, who led the team successfully in the Asian Games and Champions Trophy last year.

The squad has five players in their mid-30s but only two from the team that won silver at the 1997 Junior World Cup 8212; and both Saini and Tirkey were already part of the national team.

It8217;s a sign of fear, says Olympic gold medallist and commentator Mervyn Fernandes, it shows that the IHF doesn8217;t have faith in the calibre of the juniors who were brought in a few years ago. 8216;8216;I think there8217;s a fear that the youngsters may not be able to deliver. And, right now, the IHF doesn8217;t want to take chances for the Olympic qualifiers.8217;8217;

Zafar Iqbal, former India captain and coach of the Indian team in 1993, says one problem in the system is that people don8217;t give enough time to players to seetle down. 8216;8216;After a player is in the team for three years, talks of dropping them begin.8217;8217;

Recalling seniors into the team after such a long gap will only serve short-term aims, says MK Kaushik, who as coach took India to the Asian Games gold in 1998. 8216;8216;There is no long-term planning in the IHF. First, they sack players on discipline and form. Now, they are recalling them. It creates more problems in the team; the older lot feel insecure while the younger ones aren8217;t given time to settle down. This is hardly the way to prepare for the Olympics.8217;8217;

There wasn8217;t any way out, says former Indian captain, Pargat Singh: the talent pool is shrinking because the system is bad. 8216;8216;The system is not producing a good base for players to grow up. How does one expect excellence to come up?8217;8217;

Absurd, says IHF chief KPS Gill; the federation has been giving international exposure to five different teams. 8216;8216;It is absurd to say that our base of quality players is shrinking,8217;8217; he said.

The problem with the system is that the game is being ignored at the grassroots level. Ashok Kumar, India8217;s hero in the 1975 World Cup win and son of Dhyan Chand, feels that the source of good players in the country is drying up since the IHF ignored the development of the game at the district-level.

8216;8216;In my days, the district and clubs in small towns used to produce players for the national team. One can understand the importance of the district in those days by the fact that in Kota alone, where I started playing hockey seriously, there were 15 clubs. Now, there are not enough players in the country and it is because the IHF did not bother to promote the clubs and district association all these years. Today, the IHF has a Development Committee to promote hockey, but is anyone aware of its functioning?8217;8217;

Allied to that is the lack of proper domestic tournaments. Pargat Singh says that the fallout affects all facets 8212; umpiring, coaches and technical knowledge 8212; and not just the quality of players.

8216;8216;The development of the game can take place only if more opporuntities are created in the country. Today, the National championships are not being held regularly. These championships are important because players from all parts of the country can participate, not just from top teams,8217;8217; said Pargat.

Gill, for his part, says the Nationals have been discontinued because there are other tournaments.

It8217;s not just numbers, it8217;s the specialists who are also missing. Indian hockey has always suffered because it failed to keep up with modern technique. The team still lacks a penalty-corner expert and Zafar is not wrong when he points out that the IHF had not groomed anyone for this specialised task. 8216;8216;Apart from Jugraj Singh, we don8217;t have any other drag-flicker in the team. Dhillon is the second best in the team but not top-quality. I watched the Bombay Gold Cup recently and there was not a single drag-flicker on show; teams like Holland and Germany will have at least 40 such experts.8217;8217;

However, Gill feels that his federation is on the right track for the Olympics and the motive behind recalling the seniors is to find out if they are fit and can continue till the Olympics. He says, 8216;8216;We are trying to see whether they are fit or not since the calendar is packed this year.8217;8217;

Gill defends the decision to recall the seniors, and says it has always been part of the IHF policy to blend youth with experience.

8216;8216;We have full faith in the youngsters but at the same time we have been consistently advocating for a blend of youth and experience in the team. This is what we have done for this team too. Where is the controversy?8217;8217;

Gill may be forgiven his tetchiness; recently Castrol, the IHF8217;s sponsors, announced that it was pulling out of its three-year contract with the federation. Earlier, Doordarshan had said it would not renew the telecast contract with IHF, worth a few crores. The situation couldn8217;t be tougher for Indian hockey. If ever there was a time to stand up and prove the critics wrong, this is it. Can the IHF pull it off?