Former captain Viren Rasquinha believes the Indian men's hockey team has to do away with its habit of conceding unnecessary penalty corners if it desires to finish on the podium in the upcoming Paris Olympics. (More Sports News)
Eight-time gold medallist India, who won a bronze in the Tokyo Olympics, is placed in a tough Pool B alongside defending champions Belgium, Australia, Argentina, New Zealand and Ireland.
"In the Australia series as well as the last few FIH Pro League matches they've just been considering far too many penalty corners," Rasquinha said during a panel discussion organised by the Sports Journalists Association of Mumbai here on Tuesday.
"And that is something that the defence... The defence doesn't start with the four defenders. Once you lose possession of the ball, every single player starting with the forward becomes the first line of defence," he said.
"If you defend as a team and attack as a team, everyone has a role to play. It doesn't matter whether you're 30 seconds off on the pitch, you've got to make it count," Rasquinha added.
Rasquinha said a lot will depend on India's goalkeeper PR Sreejesh and the defenders once it comes to crucial moments.
"One thing is (that) you cannot win tournaments without a solid defence and a sensational keeper. A lot of, I would say, burden on the shoulders of Sreejesh and the defence set by Harmanpreet (Singh) to keep it really tight," he said.
Rasquinha said it will be vital for India to play to their strengths, citing the example of Australia and Germany.
"The Aussies (Australia), for example, one of the reasons why it's so difficult to play against them is because they're doing an average of four rolling substitutions every two minutes. Every player coming on the pitch is just sprinting, sprinting, sprinting," he said.
"To win Olympic medals, you have to play to your strengths. Our strengths are not playing like the Europeans and playing at a slow, measured pace. That's how Germany plays really well. They know to keep ball possession. If Germany has the ball, it's very difficult to get the ball from there," he said.
"We need to play at a tempo that puts opponents out of their comfort zone," he added.
Rasquinha said India head coach Craig Fulton has got the team he wanted, but pointed out at one glaring miss in the squad.
"I'm happy that the coach has got the team of his choice. Especially in hockey, where unlike cricket, there are less stats to back you up, it's very important for the coach to get a team of his choice," he said.
"You would expect to get to the quarter-finals and then on the other side, you have Holland, Germany, Spain, Great Britain. One of these teams are going to meet in the quarter-finals.
"Irrespective of what position you are (in), it's going to be a very, very tough quarter-final match," he said.
Rasquinha, however, expects India to do one better at Paris.
"I don't think the other drag flickers are anywhere close to the same level (as Harmanpreet). But in terms of ability, this team has the experience and the expertise to get across the finish line," he said
