Why is India's hockey team faltering?

A renaissance squad that won back-to-back Olympic bronze medals in hockey is being out thought and out fought

- Rudraneil Sengupta

On June 9 in Amsterdam, when India took on the Netherlands in their second match of the European leg of the FIH Pro League, there was little indication of what was to come. India were third on the league standings after a round of home matches, a renaissance squad that had won back-to-back Olympic bronze medals to revive a sport that once defined the country but had long been on terminal support, and on the day, against the No. 1 ranked Olympic champion team, it was India that started brighter, faster, and in attack mode. India had lost narrowly to the Netherlands in their opening game of the European leg just two days back, and looked like they were out to even things out.

As a just reward, India opened the scoring with a hard, fast strike from Abhishek, who only goes by one name, and who has become India's brightest rising hockey star in the last couple of years. The Dutch equalised with a scrappy goal a few minutes later. Nothing special, except for the visible and puzzling change it made to India's approach. With an alarming suddenness, the Indian team lost shape and intent, giving up on coach Craig Fulton's method of hard-pressing and staying compact and aggressive off the ball, a method that had taken the team to that bronze at the Paris Olympics. Instead, the Indian players were scrambling defensively without much purpose. And so, the Dutch scored again.