Slow starts

A job well begun is half done, goes the cliche. India only made their lives harder this week in London.

On Saturday against Germany, they were 0-2 in the opening quarter. For the second match running against Great Britain, India conceded early. Last week when these two sides met, Nicholas Bandurak took two minutes to open the scoring. On Sunday, it took them just one minute. Great Britain are the hosts, but the generosity came from India who stood off and let Phil Roper run from the midfield to unleash a strike on goal. It could have easily been 0-2 a minute later too but for PR Sreejesh’s double-save.

“Our starts… we haven’t started well in the first quarter,” Fulton told the broadcasters before the match. “We have gone down 0-2 in two of our matches in that space. That is never ideal. For whatever reason, we have struggled there.” At halftime, he said that the scoreboard pressure at 0-1 actually drove them to get better. Perhaps a bit of design involved there?

Fulton is known to simulate different scenarios to make his side be prepared for worst-case scenarios, he has been on record saying that. In that regard, India sure did get a lot of practice for how to fight back in a match if they concede early. But the slow starts have been far too frequent for it to be twisted into a semi-positive. Starting matches better will probably be the biggest area to work on as they now return home for another training block.

Sukhjeet’s hustle

Sukhjeet Singh spoke to this daily recently about how his career right now is a miracle, a second chance after a period when he thought it was all over. A partial paralysis six years or so back nearly ended his career but for this Fulton’s side, he is at the heart of most good forward forays. He plays almost with that attitude: that he wants to make the most of this ‘miracle’ as he put it.

On Sunday, he showed that drive again. Gurjant won the ball in midfield and took off on a run beside Lalit Upadhyay. The latter carried the ball well down the left channel and Sukhjeet was catching up alongside them. Lalit fed the ball to Gurjant to his left, the No 9 then entered the circle to unleash a shot at goal. Powerful as the strike was, it was likely heading wide of the target. But Sukhjeet kept running, and as he saw Gurjant strike, putting a full stretch dive to get his stick to the cross-shot and deflected the ball into the roof of the net.

Sukhjeet’s hustle has been one of the positives for India from this tour. He has always been there and thereabouts, but has added more outcomes to his game over the last few matches.

Sreejesh magic

That the match was level at halftime was thanks to PR Sreejesh. Great Britain were awarded a penalty stroke just before the end of the second quarter, a controversial one at that. India were in half a mind to review what was deemed to be a deliberate aerial infringement but opted against it. Zachary Wallace’s strike was heading into the top corner. Sreejesh, though, produced a moment of magic to put his right stick out and deflect it wide. He then went about giving stick-fives to his defenders, because – even after all these years – he knows a special save when he produces one.

Mindblowing reflexes from Sreejesh to keep India level! 😮@16Sreejesh pulls a stunning stick save off Zach Wallace’s penalty stroke as both teams head into half-time tied at 1-1. #FIHProLeague

📲 2nd half starting NOW! Stream the game LIVE on https://t.co/igjqkvA4ct /… pic.twitter.com/PUl9oRvKys

— International Hockey Federation (@FIH_Hockey) June 9, 2024

In the end though, GB ensured they had the last laugh. Krishan Pathak was in goal for the second half, but he couldn’t have done much about the two goals India conceded, especially a rocket of an equaliser by Jack Waller.