Hockey: Can India's young forward line sting the heavyweights?

Indian men's hockey team coach Graham Reid named 10 Olympic debutantes in the 16-member squad that travelled to Tokyo. It comprises five forwards in Shamsher Singh, Dilpreet Singh, Gurjant Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, and Mandeep Singh.

Upadhyay and Mandeep are experienced campaigners and have over 100 international caps to their names. Needless to say that the onus will be on them to lead India's attack. However, the youngsters like Dilpreet, Shamsher are ably supporting them and the former was the lone scorer against Australia in the second match.

Under Reid, this Indian side has undergone a change in mentality and forged itself into a side that can make a resounding comeback even when the chips are down. Against Spain, two youngsters, Dilpreet and Shamsher started and they showed no hangover of the 7-1 humiliation by Australia the other day. Instead, they were on the front foot and showed their attacking intent right from the first minute.

In fact, during their exposure trips undertaken earlier in 2021, they hit six past the Germans in the very opening match of the trip. There was a visible increase in the number of circle penetrations and what stood out even more, was the conversion rate. The youngsters played fearless hockey and they didn't get intimidated by the mighty Germans even away from home.

Similarly, against Argentina, who are the reigning Olympic champions, they played with their hearts on the sleeves and won 3-0 in their FIH Pro League match before hammering them 4-2 in the final friendly.

"We took all opportunities that we were given," beamed Reid to Olympics.com after the trip.

Since he took charge, the Australian has been working to make this side a formidable attacking team. He has even devised a unique 'goal opportunity' scoring system by which he calculates a total score depending on the number of chances that are created during a game. He rates each opportunity on a scale of one to five.

"A score of one is an opportunity where you get inside the circle and touch the ball and five is an open shot in front of goal. And a short corner is worth a five because you get a free shot at the goal."

After years of practice, he has found that a goal opportunity score of 20, will help you end up with a goal. Hence, the effort is always to try and create more chances, get within six yards and at the same time hit the fours and fives more frequently.

"70% of goals are scored within six yards of the goal. So, how do we get players into those positions, because only then do we have a much higher chance of scoring."

The former Australian also believes in quick-fire starts. In Pro League matches, India would swiftly get off the blocks and invariably score within the first quarter to give them an advantage. In the match against Netherlands, Gurjant Singh just took 15 seconds to open the scoring, and against Belgium, Mandeep registered his name on the scoresheet within two minutes of the first hooter.

This Indian team is aggressive, lion-hearted, and fights till the last second. Against Great Britain, in the exposure trip, they picked up a late equaliser and a winner respectively in two successive matches that speak volumes of the character of the team.

Moreover, after the 3-0 win against Spain, they have proven that the loss against Australia is already in the past. If they manage to pull off another commanding performance against Argentina, they will be well on course to qualify for the knockouts.