If well begun is half done then the Indian women’s hockey team had made the perfect start by making all the right noises even before reaching Gold Coast. There was talk about the quality of preparation, the focus on fitness and the aim of scaling Mount Everest by winning the Commonwealth Gold, a feat last achieved 16 years ago in Manchester.
But when the time came to take that first step from the base camp towards the summit, the Indian team struggled the find their foothold or the right co-ordinates as they succumbed to a 2-3 loss to Wales in their first match. They would now need to re-draw their plans and resurrect the path to glory all over again.
More than the 2-3 scoreline in the defeat against Wales, a team ranked 16 places below the Indians at 26th, it would be the gaping holes between planning and execution, penalty-corner conversion and finishing abilities that would be staring at coach Harendra Singh in his face as he looks to regroup the squad and prepare them for the next Pool A outing against Malaysia on Friday.
Not many would have given Wales a chance to turn the tables against a formidable India, who had recently got the better of Korea in bilateral test series, but then no one would have also expected the Rani Rampal-led side to be so lacking in co-ordination between the defence and midfield as they struggled through the first quarter.
If there was a plan to keep the ball till the nerves were settled, the players showed complete lack of purpose as they were either guilty of holding on to the ball for much too long or failed to read each other’s movements off the ball.
And they paid the price when Deep Grace Ekka was guilty of not marking Lisa Daley properly in the seventh minute and the striker had a simply tap-in a cross from the right to draw first blood for Wales.
While the goal helped the confidence of the Welsh women, Indians were still struggling to piece together meaningful attacks and everything felt lost when Deepika pushed Siam French inside the striking circle to concede a penalty stroke.
No variety on penalty corners
However, a half-time pep talk from Singh seemed to finally rejuvenate the team as the Indian players raised the tempo and launched attack from both flanks.
They were duly rewarded with a penalty corner in the fourth minute after the re-start and skipper Rampal brought them back in the game through a penalty corner conversion.
But for that success, which was also aided by a deflection, India’s penalty corner execution was completely lacklustre as 14 other attemps went a begging.
In an era of drag flickers dominating the penalty corners, both Rampal and Gurjit Kaur relied on the big hit which reduces their target area of the board at the bottom of the goal and Wales custodian Roseanne Thomas had little trouble in pushing away seven of the eight shots on target.
India earned three consecutive penalty corners but went for a straight hit on all three occasions. Thankfully the third resulted in a long corner and Nikki Pradhan managed to get a faintest of touch from a hopeful cross inside the striking circle to find an equaliser.
Only twice did the Indians try for a variation and were unlucky that the rebound on the second attempt hit the leg of Poonam Rani before she tapped the ball in and the Welsh women successfully challenged the goal with both team’s locked at 2-2.
Profligate strikers
The other area of concern for India would be the lack of finishing from the strikers. During the 60-minute match, India had 40 penetrations in the opposition circle but managed just six shots on goal from open play.
Vandana Kataria and Poonam Rani did a decent job in winning penalty corners but could not find enough openings to take a shot at goal and when they did, the normal hit it too wide.
On the other hand, Wales made the most of whatever opportunity they got and the goal from Natasha Marke-Jones three minutes from time was a perfect example of how to grab your chances.
Once again there was a lack of communication between goalkeeper Savita Punia and the last defender while defending another cross from the right and Marke-Jones had the open goal to tap in.
With just about 24 hours to re-group before the game against Malaysia, India has a tough task at hand to get the combination going.
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