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A few seconds before full-time, Pakistan won a penalty corner and Abdul Rana eventually breached the Indian defense by sending the ball inside the net to make it 1-1.
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The second-row Indian men’s hockey team will have to deftly handle pressure as they open their title defense against arch-rivals Pakistan in the Asia Cup here on Monday. While Pakistan has fielded quite a few fresh faces in the tournament, India will be represented by its ‘A’ team, led by veteran Birender Lakra, who came out of retirement after the Tokyo Olympics.
For India, the Asia Cup provides a platform to test its bench strength ahead of a busy season that includes the Birmingham Commonwealth Games and next year’s FIH World Cup, for which the Tokyo Olympic medalists are already the host nation. Qualified in.
Pakistan, on the other hand, are eyeing the tournament to make way for the 2023 World Cup in Bhubaneswar. The top three teams from Asia will qualify directly for the January showpiece.
Both India and Pakistan have won the Asia Cup three times each.
India had won the previous edition in 2017 by defeating Malaysia in the final in Dhaka.
India’s 20-man team, coached by former captain Sardar Singh, was originally to be led by Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist Rupinder Pal Singh, who was out of retirement, but a wrist injury ruled him out of the tournament.
The Indian team includes another stalwart of SV Sunil, who has also returned from retirement and is considered a livewire on the field.
Sunil, who missed the Tokyo Olympic squad due to injury, will serve as Lakra’s deputy.
There are at least 10 players in the Indian team who are set to make their senior India debuts, including Yashdeep Siwach, Abhishek Lakra, Manjeet, Vishnukant Singh and Uttam Singh. All of them were part of the Junior World Cup.
Apart from this, the team also has newcomers like Mariswaren Sakthivel, Sesha Gowda BM, Pawan Rajbhar, Bharan Sudev and S Karthi and it remains to be seen how Sardar gets the best out of these youngsters.
Freshmen know that a good performance in the Asia Cup could open doors for a Commonwealth Games team as national selector and head coach Graham Reid will follow the proceedings closely.
For India, Simranjit Singh, who was part of the Tokyo Olympic squad, will return to the forward line after a long injury.
But it will be up to a handful of superiors to guide the youth in the struggle.
“It (pressure) always happens (in a Pakistan match). Any match against Pakistan is always charged. But as seniors, if we get too excited, junior players can come under pressure. So we need to take it as a normal match,” India vice-captain Sunil said.
“It is not an easy tournament but if we play according to our plan we can win. We need to inspire, guide and take the youth along. So we have huge responsibilities on our shoulders.”
Pakistan will reach the tournament after a mixed bag tour of Europe under new coach Siegfried Ekman, where the team played five matches – two each against the Netherlands and Spain and one against Belgium – of which it won two.
Both the teams have young players, it remains to be seen how the players control their emotions and anger on the field.
After Pakistan, India will take on Japan on Tuesday and Indonesia on May 26 in the second Pool A match.
Malaysia, Korea, Oman and Bangladesh have been placed in Pool B.
In other games, Malaysia will face Oman on day one and South Korea will face Bangladesh in Pool B, while Japan will face Indonesia in Pool A.
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