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A rewarding sojourn so far

By S. Thyagarajan

Sydney June 6. Seldom in recent years have we experienced such a state of well-being as now. The current Australian sojourn slated for conclusion this weekend has been rewarding in more ways than one.

The near-title finish at Perth and the challenging 3-3 draw at Wollongong against the Australians, not to speak of the convincing win against the Pakistanis, have engendered an enormous confidence.

True, a lot more needs to be addressed to, but what is heartening is the trend, more importantly, the blossoming of untried players like Sandeep Michael, for instance, and goal-keeper Kamaldeep Singh.

Admittedly, Sandeep is no revelation. He has been around for sometime, but, sadly, failed to catch the eye of the powers-that-be. When thrown in briefly in the opening game at Perth against the Australian `A' team, Sandeep made his presence felt with a few accurate passes, one of which helped Gagan to strike.

But on Thursday, when Rajinder Singh chose to experiment and give the untested players a full go, Sandeep seized the opportunity and slotted two superbly designed goals that at once put him on bar with Dhanraj Pillay as a play-maker in the frontline.

With Gagan not in the best frame of mind so far in the tour, Rajinder Singh will be doing the right thing if he prefers Sandeep to be part of the attack in the crucial match against Pakistan on Saturday.

Full marks also go to Kamaldeep Singh for his intrepid goal-keeping against the tough Aussie attack on Thursday. He has the makings of a first-class goal-keeper, if carefully nursed and encouraged.

The coach must have been embarrassed to see his shuffled combination without Dhanraj, Saini and Gagan, playing throughout at such pace and precision to produce a variegated pattern of attacks so consistently. His position now is unenviable when he sits to pick the 16 for the remaining two days.

Apart from stressing the fact that the confidence level is at a new high, this has to be tempered with a measure of realism when assessing the forthcoming contest against Pakistan at the Sydney International Stadium. Even a draw is sufficient to give India a berth in Sunday's final against Australia.

But aiming only for a draw will project a negative approach, which may be suicidal as the emphasis on defending the lead showed up against Australia in the final at Perth last Sunday.

Exactly after a week, India comes to grips with Pakistan again — the 105th time for the statistically minded — and, predictably, expectations are high among the supporters of both the countries here.

Despite the distressing results — one win in five games so far — the Pakistanis are definitely giving the impression of having sewn up the loose ends. Their performance against the main Australian team on Thursday underscored a marked improvement in frontline sallies.

Mudassar Khan and Shabbir Hussain demonstrated the fact that they cannot be taken for granted by any defence as did Rehan Bhatt on the wing and Taushif Jawaad in the middle. Saqlain played a prominent role in the mid-field, prompting a series of fluent attacks. Jaime Dwyer's extraordinary individual performance almost saved the day for the Aussies.

The Indian coaches, Rajinder and Baldev Singh, who watched this intense battle from the sidelines, must have drawn the inputs helpful for chalking out their chart-work for Saturday.

It goes without saying that Rajinder will opt for the tested and tried combination of Dhanraj, Saini, Gagan and goal-keeper Devesh Chauhan to start with, but the strength lies in the mid-field where everyone has been outstanding.

Bimal, Ignace, Viren, Vikram and Jugraj have shown their mettle in unmistakeable terms. The epitome of equanimity and assurance in this area is Dilip Tirkey, whose success rate in penalty corner hits too has been amazing.

Undeniably, India starts with the benefit of recent facts and figures in its favour but these heartless, cold numbers hold little relevance when the opposition is Pakistan, whatever be its strength at this point of time. It is entirely a different ball game, and that is what makes an India-Pakistan clash, in a sport like hockey or cricket, elevate itself to a new realm of excellence.

A rich fare awaits all the aficionados, aside from the diehard India and Pakistan supporters who are preparing to throng the venue,

Saturday's matches: India v Pakistan (8-30 a.m. IST); Australia v Australia `A' (10-30 a.m.).

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