As Indian hockey continues to put on a pathetic show, the ongoing Premier Hockey League in Chandigarh can be taken as a case study for what we lack at the international level. Watching the Australian Jaime Dwyer (playing for Maratha Warriors) and Spanish penalty-corner specialist Santi Friexa (donning Sher-e-Jalandhar colours) is a lesson on how speedily and spectacularly these players are elevating world hockey to a new height.

In comparison to their show in the PHL, the Indians are cutting a sorry figure. The fact that the Dwyers are playing in alien conditions and yet outshining the Indians in their own backward points to the gap that exists between our potency and theirs. True, some of the youngsters have shown promise and I can only hope they will learn from the foreigners. But it doesn’t seem to be enough for us to recapture the lost ground in the immediate future.

I’m also disappointed with the way the Pakistan players have fared so far. Almost half the Pakistan team is playing here, but they haven’t been anywhere close to challenging the supremacy of Dwyer & Co. In my opinion, only Salman Akbar — the Orissa Steelers ’keeper — has come anywhere close to matching their flair and finesse.

The Bangalore Lions have been a big letdown. They boast of as many as seven Indian players in their ranks and yet are struggling at the bottom.

The Orissa Steelers’ performance is the most heartening, but the credit for it should go to the brilliant Dilip Tirkey in the backline and the scintillating Akbar under the bar.

Overall, it’s not a good sign for India, nor for Pakistan. A common ailment is plaguing subcontinental hockey as a whole. We’ve lost our old magic, the supply line of talents at the grassroots level has dried up and the grooming schools continue in their old-fashioned styles.

We have already had a meeting with the International Hockey Federation officials about our future.

It has been noted that there are only some ‘pockets’ from where the players are coming and the talent search programmes are not spread across the country. Besides, there hardly is any local league in Bihar, Orissa and the North-East states. Even in Bengal, hockey is predominantly concentrated in Calcutta.

Unless each state or unit has its own tournament where the next pool of talents can be on display and until the game is popularised on a national level, Indian hockey will head further downhill.