Paris Olympics, hockey: With Hardik as heartbeat, India will aim for the sky with aerial passes as a key tactic

Think of the FIH Pro League match in Rourkela on February 21. India trailed the Netherlands 0-1 after conceding an early goal. In the third quarter, with around 8 minutes to go, the hosts were pinned to the right flank, looking for an opening as the Dutch stayed tight on defence. Harmanpreet went forward with a ground pass, but it came back to him because there was no space to be found.

Hardik Singh in action at the FIH Pro League against Great Britain as India lost 1-3 (Photo: Hockey India)

As this was unfolding, Hardik was slowly meandering from the center of the pitch to the right touchline – scanning the other side of the pitch ever so subtly – offering Harmanpreet another passing option.

The moment he received the ball, Hardik faked making a short pass back into the midfield, quickly changed his body position and sent a stunning aerial ball into the Netherlands circle. Because, as he was weighing up his options, Hardik had spotted Lalit Upadhyay willing to make a run and the midfielder trusted his gut to open up the play.

Lalit came up with a gorgeous piece of skill to leap in the air, control the ball and force an infringement from the Dutch defender to win a penalty corner. That it was Hardik who eventually converted the play from close range to make it 1-1 was a fitting full circle.

The new trend

India might not be the only team to use this tactic frequently in Paris. It’s an increasingly frequent sighting in the men’s game especially.

“I think Belgium was the first to tactically use it from 2018, and now a lot more teams have practiced and seen the benefits of it,” India head coach Craig Fulton told The Indian Express in Bengaluru. “There are a lot more aerial passes being played now, I’d say at least a third of the passes in the final third. The skill level has improved, so teams can do it on the move. It’s not just a dead ball. And it’s very high-risk-high-reward.”

Hardik’s importance to the team hit home not during one of his many tireless performances. (Hockey India)

Hardik, of course, is one of the best exponents of it in the world. “For me, almost every training session I practice my aerials and it has become a part of my natural game. I just think that if I am able to hit 20 really good aerial balls in a session, then it becomes easier for me to hit 2-3 good ones during a match,” the Indian vice captain told this daily at SAI Bengaluru before the team left for Europe.

“There are some sessions when we work as a team on structures and strategies, and if my aerials work well in those, then it’s OK. But if not, I work on it more on my own time. I come 30 minutes early to the training, finish warmup and just throw some aerials. I do this quite a lot. I want to hit, say, 30-40 really good aerials in a week of training.”

But it is not lost on Hardik that quality matters more than quantity. So he forces himself to play these long balls with the same body language, and mindset as he would do in a match. Behind it is a simple motivation. “For me, it’s a self confidence thing, I *have* to do extra work on this, because in my mind I have to feel like I have done more work than the opposition, and that I am better at it than them,” Hardik added.

Need for space

Siddharth Pandey, a FIH Level 3 Coach, says the objective of an aerial pass is to eliminate opponents, break defensive lines, to break the press.

With teams pressing fast, marking the opponents closely and closing down the hotlines — the fastest route to goal — the space has shrunk to play a ground pass. The other option then is to play an overhead pass to beat these tactics. And that’s where the likes of Hardik, Harmanpreet, Manpreet have a key role to play.

India’s Hardik Singh celebrates after scoring a goal against Malaysia during the Asian Champions Trophy 2023 hockey match between India and Malaysia, at Mayor Radhakrishnan Hockey Stadium, in Chennai. (PTI)

“Hardik is clinical with his aerials, especially the 35-40m range,” Pandey explained. “Apart from good peripheral and open vision, it has a lot to do with torso rotation strength. If you see Hardik, he doesn’t possess the broadest shoulders in the world, but he has incredible core strength, possibly second to none. You see his Instagram stories, you see him very often in a plank position with plates on his back. It also helps with his injection, he is India’s No 1 for PC routines. He plays with a stick that is known as the low-bow stick. Basically, the bend on the stick (bow) is quite low and it helps with 3D skills, close control, and is very useful for aerial passing.”

Interpretation issues

But a key aspect of this tactical play is interpretation of the rules, with defending teams penalised for encroaching an attacker while receiving the aerial pass.

“The rule changes recently have made it a little more advantageous for attacking sides, every team is trying to use that. We have to change our structure based on the aerial strategies,” Hardik said.

Fulton actually sees it as a source of frustration, if the referees are not adjudicating it properly. He recalled the match against Great Britain in London last month when a penalty stroke was given against India for a defensive infringement inside the circle.

“And the exact same thing happened in the second half, just outside the D and that was their ball. You’re hoping that the best umpires and video referrals will be on at the Olympics. I’m really hoping that we have the same standard of interpretation,” the South African said.

Fulton hoped for high standards and fewer inconsistencies at the Olympics. He’ll expect from his players, who’ll aim for the sky, literally. The execution all comes down to a lot of repetition in training. And understanding when to play an aerial, especially based on whether the opponents are using zonal (yay) or man-to-man marking (nay). For players like Hardik, it also about understanding their range. The fullbacks in deep defence have to throw aerials for 70m-80m. Hardik does have to work a bit on the longer aerials too, just in case he has to hit one late in the match in desperate times.

“But as a midfielder, I will have to throw aerials for say 60m most times, I have to focus on half to baseline, and some diagonals. It’s mainly about accuracy, and communication with the attacker receiving the ball, his body position matters too and we have to be on the same page. Once you do it enough in training, you understand your ideal aerial range. The most important aspect is I have to trust my instincts.”

And India will be hoping his instincts are on point just as it was that night in Rourkela against the mighty Dutch.