Upbeat India renew interest

Coach Vasudevan Baskaran also managed a rare smile. “The last two matches have reaffirmed my belief in the youngsters. The turf at Pindi was slippery and very fast. The Europeans would have refused to play on it. But what a good match it turned out to be. Any defeat is disconcerting but I’m more or less satisfied with our performance.” After a patchy display by the forwards in the home leg, there were several worried faces in the Indian camp. But themuch-needed cohesion and co-ordination is finally visible, and Baljit Singh Dhillon’s capacity to take much of the load on himself had a lot to do with it.

Dhillon had been heavily marked in the Pakistan leg, and has played more withdrawn to keep the flow of attacks going. Even Gagan Ajit Singh has been tightly marked, but he managed to break away to trouble the rival defence yesterday. Gagan’s brilliant goal in the penultimate minute was appreciated by the discerning spectators.

Worries on the goal-keeping front remain. Both Ponnappa and Poonacha have shown poor reflexes and anticipation. This comes after the pathetic penalty corner conversion rate of the Indians. These are the two areas where Pakistan has a clear advantage. While they have a world class penalty corner specialist in Suhail Abbas, both goal-keepers Ahmed Alam and Mohammed Qasim have been reliable.

It is the co-ordination, or the lack of it, between the midfield and forward-line that has worried Pakistan coach Shahnaz Sheikh. Sheikh,however, was all praise for the his team’s fightback at Pindi. “It was a terrific match, the best of the series. If the two teams can maintain this level and maybe improve a bit, there is hope for sub-continent hockey," Sheikh said.

Even Sheikh realises the Indians have improved in the last two matches. India, on the other hand, would like to repeat last year’s performance when they got over two successive defeats to start a chain of victories at their favourite ground in this city.