India tour of Australia will be the litmus to test for Hockey World Cup 2023 preparedness

Captain Harmanpreet Singh will lead the 23-player India squad in Australia. The team is set to play five matches, from November 26 - December 4, 2022. (Image: Twitter via TheHockeyIndia)

It will be more than three-and-a-half months since Australia beat India 7-0 in the men’s hockey final at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham when the two teams will meet again. India will play a five-match series in Australia starting November 26, which will also be a preparation for next year’s FIH (International Hockey Federation) World Cup and the Asian Games.

On paper, besides the convincing victory last time, Australia have the advantage of ranking No. 1 against India’s fifth and the benefit of playing at home. While Australia also have an overall better head-to-head record, they beat India by another large margin, 7-1, in the Tokyo Olympics last year that adds to India’s run of poor scores against this opponent.

“Obviously, we were disappointed with results,” said Manpreet Singh, who captained the Indian team in Tokyo, over the phone on Friday. “Never thought they would get such big margins, especially in the Commonwealth Games because that was the final. But this is important for young players, to gain in confidence, to grow and a good preparation for the World Cup. We will see (in Australia) what we have done well and where we can improve.”

Singh, one of the Indian team’s most experienced players, takes solace from the fact that India has also run Australia close on a few occasions. The 2016 Champions Trophy final was goalless at full time before Australia prevailed (3-1) in a shootout. The story repeated in the 2018 Champions Trophy which ended 1-1 in the final before Australia again came through the shootout with a 3-1 win.

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“They (the Australians) are hockey players too like us. With good teams, you have to defend well because if they get a chance and score, they will have an advantage. Any good team, be it Australia, Belgium, Netherlands, we have to convert goals or convert them into penalty corners because chances are limited,” said Singh, a day before leaving for Australia.

India’s recent form, though, has been encouraging. The team won two of its four matches (with one loss) in the 2022-23 FIH Pro League in October-November in Bhubaneshwar. They sit on the top of the table with Germany.

India’s silver medal in the Commonwealth Games this year follows a bronze from the Tokyo Olympics, the country’s first medal from the quadrennial event in 41 years. In new captain Harmanpreet Singh, India has a prolific scorer from set pieces. He already has six goals from four matches of the Pro League this season, which adds to his tally of 18 the last season when he was the League’s top scorer.

“Belief is strong in the team,” said Manpreet Singh about how Tokyo has changed the players, including himself. “We merely used to participate and I speak for my career. In 2012 Olympics, we were 12th (and last). In 2016, we were eighth. This time (in 2021), we were on the podium. All players have the belief that we can do something. All of them believe that India can score any time.

“If you see some of our old matches, the chatter always used to be about how India concedes a goal in the last minutes. We have overcome that—now we create opportunities in the last minute, like against New Zealand in the Pro League, for example (India won 7-4). We have a never-give-up vibe. Our target is to be the No. 1 team in the world—not just to win medals.”

The upcoming Australia series is just a stepping-stone towards far greater goals, “an ideal preparation ground ahead of marquee events”, as the newly elected Hockey India president Dilip Tirkey puts it. The men’s World Cup starts January 13, 2023, in Bhubaneshwar-Rourkela, giving India an opportunity to win its second gold in the 50-year-old event. It’s a competition India has comparatively less success in—even through the 1970s and early 1980s when the country was the dominant team in the world.

India has just one gold medal, from 1975 Kuala Lumpur, besides a silver and a bronze; 2023 is a significant opportunity to win more gold. Expectations from the team too have changed, since Tokyo.

Manpreet Singh at the Tokyo Olympics. (Image: Twitter)

“That (the World Cup) is the biggest challenge—my fourth. In the last three, I didn’t get to touch a medal, which I want to change,” goalkeeper P.R. Sreejesh had said after the Olympics, firmly setting sights on his next target. “I am missing a World Cup medal.”

If the Indian hockey team is capable of learning from its mistakes—and bouncing back—it’s best exemplified by the team’s performance after the defeat to Australia in Tokyo. The loss was shattering, the margin making it seem worse, but the players recovered, to make it to the semi-finals.

“When we lost, we were disappointed because the margin was big,” centre-half Manpreet Singh had said then, immediately after the Olympics. “We thought we would have a close match. We analysed the data to realise that we were actually not that bad. But it was a wakeup call, that we have to get better and not go back.”

With added onus on fitness, coach Graham Reid’s calming influence over the players and an Indian team that seems balanced with youth and experience, the Australia series will help set expectations for the more prestigious events to follow next year. The hosts are the overwhelming favourites, but even one win would boost India’s confidence.

“Australia will show how successful we have been and how much we need for the World Cup, where all teams will come completely prepared,” said Singh.