Indian ace Deepak Thakur believes the team is mentally strong to take on Pakistan in the opening game of the FIH World Cup
Live everyone else, I am excited by the approaching India-Pakistan contest in the Hero Honda FIH World Cup 2010 at the Maj. Dhyan Chand National Stadium in Delhi. It has been a little over six years since I sat in the packed stands and cheered a 3-1 India victory in the Afro-Asian Games final in my home town, Hyderabad. The goalless draw that I saw the teams play out at the Morris Brown College ground in Atlanta at the 1996 Olympic Games has faded into the recesses.
For someone who has found the sporting rivalry between the two neighbours endearing, I cannot help think of how India will have to be mentally strong to face the twin pressures that bear down on the team in the World Cup competition. It is known to be among the slow starters in the big competitions and, to make it doubly challenging, the opening game is with Pakistan.
May be it is just a myth that India starts slowly but let us look at the last two major events for the Indian team. India got off to a 2-2 draw with New Zealand in the Champions Challenge in Argentina in December. Earlier, in the Asia Cup in May 2009, despite goals from Prabhjot Singh and Rajpal Singh, the team lost 2-3 to – hold your breath – Pakistan.
It does look like the home team has approached its two warm up games against Argentina and the Netherlands as part of a big tournament rather than as practice matches. I was happy with the intensity that we saw in the squad when it took on and beat the Dutch 2-1 in a practice game a couple of evenings earlier.
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