Upbeat India aim to level scores

KARACHI, March 6: The mood of uncertainty and despair that had gripped the Indian hockey team in the past few months, seems to be giving way...

KARACHI, March 6: The mood of uncertainty and despair that had gripped the Indian hockey team in the past few months, seems to be giving way to hope and growing self belief. Two wins in as many matches — albeit the first came in an exhibition tie — against the home side, and the visitors have already earned the tag of favourites for the final Test of the Pak leg to be played here tomorrow.

And not without reasons. The Indians had the better of exchanges in the last two Tests, and have looked a more balanced side.

Down 1-2 in the eight-Test series — a scoreline which could easily have read in their favour — the Indians are expected to go all out to square the series in the floodlit encounter tomorrow.

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The Lahore Test spoke much for the new found confidence of the Indians, as they managed to take the initiative twice, and then came back fighting after conceding lead at the start of the second session.

Their strong urge to dominate and win was evident, when they kept hammering at the Pakistan citadelin the final moments, rather that opting to play it safe with the slender lead.

The Indian coach Vasudevan Baskaran made it clear after the Lahore win that the Indians would take field at Karachi “to square the series.” “We have been playing well, dominating, but that is not enough. In this process of rebuilding, we have to learn to score and win, if we are to succeed at the World Cup,” he added.

Baskaran has reasons to be confident because he has fewer worries than his counterpart Ishlahuddin Siddiqui. The forward line has settled down well, with the three experienced stars Dhanraj Pillai, Sabu Varkey and Mukesh Kumar working out a neat nderstanding.

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Besides, even the left flank, which has rarely functioned well, delivered effectively at Lahore. With Brojen Singh on the injured list, Baskaran tried Samir Dad in place of Harbhajan Singh in the second half, with success — Samir set up Dhanraj for India’s third, and then scored the winner. Chauhan has been his usual busy self in the inside-leftposition.

Dilip Tirkey has had an outstanding tour, and the other full back Lazarus Barla also seems to be shaping up well. In such circumstances, the other defender in the team, Dinesh Naik could again sit on the bench,Goalkeeper AB Subbaiah also had a decent outing at Lahore, and will be coach’s first choice tomorrow.

The mid-fielders have not had an impressive tour, and Ramandeep Singh, Thirumal Valavan and Baljit Singh Saini will have to play a notch better to solidify their dominance in the key area. However, with Sabu taking a lot of load in the midfield, and Mukesh and Dhanraj falling back in time to keep the attacks going, Baskaran seems a satisfied man.

It is then the penalty corner conversion that has given the Indian camp the jitters. The growing numbers of missed penalty corners have added to their embarrassment.

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However, even in this department, Lahore provided a ray of hope, with two conversions out of ten. This fares poorly with Pakistan’s two out of five but in all fairness, theIndians do not have a flicker in the class of the young Sushail Abbas to do much damage in this area. The Indian manager MM Somaiya said that they had studied the videos of Sushail’s flick, and were working on the strategy to render him ineffective.

Coming on to the Pakistanis, a 2-1 lead in the series has ensured that the Habib Bank Trophy does not go out of the country, However, the Peshawar Test apart — where Shahbaz Ahmed stole the show — there is not much in Pakistan’s display that would trouble the Indian thinktank.