Men's Hockey World Cup: In 2018, Harendra Singh seeks 1983 moment for hockey

Let's cast our minds back to the 1983 Cricket World Cup, arguably the most impactful sporting triumph in India's history.

Kapil Dev and his men walked in as underdogs with odds of 50-1 against them that went as low as 66-1 for the final, only to spring one of the biggest shocks and beat the West Indies to lift the Cup.

Going into the 2018 Hockey Men's World Cup starting in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday, India's head coach Harendra Singh is hoping his boys are able to replicate what Kapil Dev's Class of 1983 did that changed the complexion of Indian cricket forever.

"After 2010, we are hosting the World Cup for the first time, and this has the potential to change the face of Indian hockey," Singh told DNA in an exclusive interview.

"The entire country is looking at us for a good result and some good hockey at home. And that, I think, is very important for hockey, where we can change the face of the sport in the country.

"Like in 1983, after Kapil Dev's team won the Cricket World Cup, the entire scenario of cricket changed in India. So, if we can deliver that change here, it will go a long way in the growth of Indian hockey," he added.

And by that, Singh doesn't just mean putting on an exhibition of quality hockey, giving the big teams a run for their money and being content with the well-tried-well-fought pat on the back. He means giving the Indian hockey lovers a result they can be proud of.

"I don't put one over the other. I believe it's equally important to deliver results as it is to play good hockey. Around 1.3 billion Indian people want India to lift the Cup, and so do I and my team," Singh said.
That, of course, is easier said than done.

 (Captains of the 16 participating teams along with Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik (C) pose with the 2018 Hockey Men’s World Cup trophy at Mukteshwar Temple in Bhubaneswar on Monday, two days ahead of the tournament. India captain Manpreet Singh is standing to the left of Patnaik —Hockey India)

Ranked No. 5 in the world, India are entering the mega world event on the back of disappointing results in the two other key tournaments of the year — the Commonwealth Games (CWG) and the Asian Games.

While Singh wasn't in charge of the side that finished fourth at the Gold Coast CWG, he was at the helm when the defending champions came back with a bronze medal from the Jakarta Asiad, a big slip-up that cost the team a direct entry into the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

"I don't look at what happened in the past," Singh, who took over as head coach of the men's team from Dutchman Sjoerd Marijne in May this year, said.

"If we sit and keep thinking about the past, then it means we will not even get what we're expecting in the future. So, I believe it is important to stay in the present," he added.

Learning From Mistakes

'Harry sir', as the players like to call him, might not like to dwell on the past, yet he has ensured that his boys learn from the mistakes made there, which range from not applying finishing touches inside the opposition circle in order to score a goal, inconsistency in penalty corner conversion rate and panicking in the dying minutes of a tight game.

The coach's solution to these complex issues, though, is straightforward.

"The basic learning is that you keep the ball with you," Singh said. "The moment you start throwing the ball around and into the opponent's half, then the pressure automatically comes on you.

"We have discussed as to which are the moments that we have to keep the ball with us, and once you do that, you can score any time. The moment you start giving the ball to your opponents, they can also score any time. It then becomes a game of equal opportunities. But if we have the ball with us, why should we give that opportunity?

"It's all about sticking to the Cs: being cool, calm, composed, confident and competitive," he added.

Dealing With Pressure

The players will need to extract every tiny bit out of those five Cs over the next two-and-a-half weeks.

They'll have to go into almost an MS Dhoni-like Zen zone of deflecting external pressure, especially from those vociferous fans that will throng the Kalinga Stadium in numbers for their home team's matches.

"Why is it pressure?" Singh, who guided the India Colts to the 2016 Junior World Cup title at home, is quick to retort.

"Why can't the crowd be the 12th man of the team? Why is it that from my own people cheering for me, I will feel pressure? If I'm playing in front of people who are screaming for my team every second I am on the field, that's a big opportunity and a perfect platform to showcase my skills. Why should it burden me?" he added.

While Singh doesn't think of playing hosts as a negative factor, there's no running away from Indian hockey's long-standing Achilles heel: crumbling under the pressure of playing a big match in big tournaments.

India haven't won a World Cup in 43 years, and haven't ended fifth or above since 1994. Success in mega events has come few and far between lately, and while the current set of players have shown sporadic sparks against the mightier teams, they often tend to defuse come the crunch time.

The trend couldn't have been highlighted better than at this year's CWG and Asiad.

In Gold Coast, India edged past England 4-3 in the pool stage but lost to the same team in the bronze medal match. In Jakarta, the team scored 76 goals in its five league games and yet, when it came to the match that mattered, the high-flying Indians came crashing down against Malaysia in the semifinals.

Singh's idea of tackling this problem is taking away the concept of a 'big' match altogether.

"Because if you think of every match on the same level, the question of 'big' matches doesn't arise at all," Singh said.

"For me, in this World Cup, the first league match will be as important as the quarterfinal match. You cannot say this match is big and this match is not so big. Every match in a World Cup is a big match.

"We have to perform every minute of every match in this tournament at our optimum level. The result will also be at its optimum then," he added.