I’m quite sure Sohail Abbas will make himself available for Champions Trophy

The most striking feature of India’s dismal show at the eight-nation mini World Cup was the forwardline’s flop-show. It was pathetic to see Gagan Ajit Singh, Deepak Thakur and Prabhjot Singh struggling to get their bearings right in Amstelveen. The team lost all its round-robin league games, scoring just two goals in three matches. The experienced trio could neither score field goals nor probe the rival defence lines consistently enough to force too many penalty corners.

That was unfortunate because they looked to be in decent form in the preparatory camp and trial matches. Gagan Ajit, in particular, had shown signs of regaining prime form prior to the team’s departure. But once business time came around in Holland, they just lost their game.

Young right-out Rajpal Singh was the sole redeeming figure in the forwardline. He was very impressive till he got injured in the Pakistan game. In my book, he was India’s find of the tournament.

Though we lost by slender margins to Spain, Germany and Pakistan, I wasn’t satisfied with the way our defence line functioned. But for some outstanding saves by reserve goalkeeper Bharat Chetri, we could have lost to England and finished last.

In the half-line, Viren Rasquinha and Arjun Halappa managed to do some justice to their reputation, but Ignace Tirkey was below par.

The way we started against Spain should have sent alarm bells ringing. We were hopelessly outplayed for most of the opening session and though we did manage to contain them thereafter, there was nothing in India’s game to suggest that they were one of the serious contenders. In the end, we were lucky to concede a solitary goal.

Germany were the only team to enter the tournament with a relatively young side. Forget victory, we couldn’t even salvage a point from this game. One win or two draws would have ensured a fifth or sixth place for India. I honestly didn’t expect us to play the final in such a high-quality field, but neither did I imagine we would have to fight for the wooden spoon.

Pakistan beat us pretty convincingly. In fact, I was astonished to see the Pakistan team improve so dramatically within a month and a half of the Azlan Shah Cup where they cut a sorry figure. Their forwardline in Amstelveen was too good. The forwards knew they had to deliver as Pakistan were playing their first major tournament without penalty corner wizard Sohail Abbas. And didn’t they deliver! The way they mastered Olympic champions Australia in the final was a tribute to their spirit and skill.

The mini World Cup triumph will serve as a big boost to the Pakistanis for the forthcoming Champions Trophy in Chennai. I’m quite sure former captains Sohail and Wasim Ahmed would both make themselves available for December’s Champions Trophy. Both had said at the time of quitting that they wanted to clear the path for youngsters but should the country need their services, they would return to the team.

Actually, Sohail and Wasim were being very clever. They wanted to make money playing in the European league, and thus couldn’t have been available for national duty for all tournaments. So they ‘retired’, keeping open the option of playing the bigger tournaments like Champions Trophy, Asian Games, World Cup and Olympics. It’s an arrangement which suits both parties perfectly.

Coming back to the Indian forwards, I don’t want to be too harsh in judging their future. Just because they had two poor tournaments doesn’t mean they should be written off. It’s not easy to recover from a slump, as our cricket captain Sourav Ganguly is discovering. But, as the saying goes, form is just one good match away.

In Indian sport, there is a tendency for senior players to rest on laurels and take their places for granted. The likes of Gagan Ajit, Deepak and Prabhjot have not been pushed by the fringe players hard enough to instil a sense of fear in their minds. In our time, there would be five-six players of almost the same calibre fighting for each position.

I’ll give you two examples. In the late 50s and early 60s, there were Udham Singh, Manuel, Susinathan, Hardayal Singh, Pyara Singh and Sarpal Singh all battling to earn the left out berth. And for the full-back position, the fight was between Prithipal Singh, Jhamanlal Sharma, Balkishen Singh, Gurjit Singh, Shantaram, Murthy, Dharam Singh and myself! Mind you, all of them played in the Olympics.

Quality can emerge only from quantity. Unfortunately, there is not enough strength on the bench right now. That’s the most worrying thing in Indian hockey.