With their defence still a concern, Sardar Singh and Co take on formidable world champions today
With four major events ahead of him and his team at the start of the season, India's chief coach Terry Walsh had an unenviable task of choosing on which events to focus on.
The World Cup is after all the biggest event in the sport and comes only once in four years and the Asian Games is a qualifier for Rio Olympics in 2016 and finally the Champions Trophy at the fag end of the year was on home soil.
In between all this fell the Commonwealth Games hockey competition, where Australia have been a dominant force ever since the sport made its debut at the Games in Kuala Lumpur in 1998.
Walsh had in some sense indicated that the Commonwealth Games may be low on priority but only in comparison, though it is never easy to put away an event as such.
After two successive wins over hosts Scotland by 6-2 and Wales by 7-1, the Indians are up against the Australians in the third match in Group A at the Glasgow National Hockey Centre. India still has a game against South Africa at hand before qualification to the semi-finals.
The Australians have won each of the four Commonwealth Games gold medals since 1998 and India have just one silver from 2010 in Delhi to show for their pedigree in the sport, which fetched them eight Olympic gold medals in the past, but none since 1980.
India's 0-8 thumping by the Australians in 2010 in Delhi and their 0-4 defeat at the World Cup in June will certainly play on their minds, but they would also do well to keep in mind that the Australians also beat Netherlands 6-1 in the World Cup final.
Yet India did put up a decent show in the first half before caving in 0-4 in Utrecht.
India's big worries will be their defence, which still lackadaisical and they even let in two goals against Scotland and one against Wales. Vice captain PR Sreejesh has been in outstanding form, just as he was in Holland, but the defence will need to put up a better show. A defeat against Australia may be a given, but India will need a win against South Africa, who can be a difficult team to beat at time.
The win would be crucial for a semi-final berth and from the other the likely top are England and New Zealand, both higher ranked than India.
Dragflickers VR Raghunath and Rupinder Pal Singh are in fine fettle with their penalty corner conversions in the last game. That will also instill confidence in the rest of the team.
Walsh said, "The game against Australia gives us another opportunity to test ourselves in the areas we believe we have improved. The game will be fast, open and full of tests for individuals and our team. I am confident that our performance will show significant measures of improvement."
Captain Sardar Singh said, "The team is under no pressure when they will be facing the opponents tomorrow as the boys are high on self-belief. Post the World Cup our main area that we needed improvement was the penalty corner conversions. In the last two matches the boys have shown remarkable improvement and both Raghunath and Rupinder (Pal Singh) look in great form."
Timings: The match starts at 6.30 pm IST
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