My main fears, as pointed out yesterday, came to pass. The Indian defence played well but could not avoid conceding penalty-corners. And the most dreaded weapon in the Pakistan team, Sohail Abbas, made the best of the opportunities that came his way and scored a hat-trick from penalty-corners to fashion a 3-2 victory for Pakistan.
Having conceded six goals in two matches through penalty-corners coach Harendra Singh must be a worried man. And so must be the team. It is not that goalkeeper Kamaldeep Singh had poor matches, but it just seems he is all at sea while defending the set-piece drill.
Usually, it is an understanding between the players running out and the goalkeeper that's vital to stave off penalty-corner goals. That's lacking in this young team. Besides, Kamaldeep, who was exceptional in saving field goals, particularly against Pakistan, appears not very confident when it comes to penalty-corners. If that's the case, there is no harm trying out the second goalkeeper, Adrian D'Souza, in the next match. The Mumbai youngster has had an outstanding domestic season and played a stellar role in the junior team's exploits on their tour of Poland. Trying him will do the team no harm.
Coming to the match against Pakistan, both teams played exciting hockey. In fact, the match had all the trappings of India-Pakistan clashes of yore. Captain Dhanraj Pillay seems to get all pumped up when plays against Pakistan. It was evident in yesterday's game too. He worked tirelessly up and down and was the architect of many a move as compared to his performance in the previous match against Germany.
After India were down by a goal, Dhanraj anticipated a faulty pass by a Pakistani defender and made a beautiful move into the rival circle. He opened up the defence with a precise pass for Baljit Singh Dhillon to complete the finishing touches and level the scores 1-1.
That was Dhanraj at his best. The goal spurred the Indians and immediately Rajpal Singh justified his inclusion in the starting line-up for the match by scoring from a diagonal cross from the fittest member of the team, Ignace Tirkey.
Pakistan, who are with a full strength team, were surprised to find themselves a goal down. Little did they expect this bunch of India juniors to stretch them. But, as always, complacency crept into the inexperienced Indian defence, and William Xalco, who has so far been very impressive with his tackles and anticipation, began clearing the ball from the defence very poorly. Counter attacks gave the Pakistanis a chance and off the resultant penalty-corners they levelled the score (2-2) through Sohail Abbas before half-time.
In the second session, both teams used the first 15 minutes to open up each other's defence. And here it must be said, that the Indian defence did well to keep the fast-moving Pakistan forward line in check. But just when they were looking good they conceded another soft penalty-corner and Sohail Abbas made no mistake to give Pakistan the lead, which they held on to and emerged triumphant.
Having lost their first two matches, the Indians will have to plug the chinks in their armoury and come up with a better show in their remaining matches. They still have Malaysia, Australia, Korea and Spain to play. They will need a strong performance from the defence and goalkeeper if they hope to finish among the top four.
Malaysia drew their match against Spain by converting three penalty-corner. So it will be once again a crucial factor, and the goalkeeping and running out will prove decisive.
- Mervyn Fernandis represented India at the 1980, '84 and '88 Olympics. He also captained India at the junior World Cup in Versailles, France, in 1979.
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