India and Argentina have been involved in some edge of the seat thrillers over the years and the last competitive tournament encounter where India battled to a 2-1 win in the 2018 Champions Trophy match in Breda was testament to that. And, who can forget the euphoria on defeating their Argentinian counterparts by the same scoreline in the quarters of Rio 2016 Olympic games, especially after they eventually went on to be crowned champions!
In fact, the second of the two set of practice matches which finished day before yesterday was a high goal scoring 4-4 draw against the hosts – Argentina where India is currently on a 16-day tour to resume their FIH Pro League campaign. This comes after the 1st practice match that ended 4-3 in the favour of visitors making it a good start for the Indian senior men’s jockey team as they took the field again to after the postponement of events from March 2020 due to the pandemic.
Schedule
The Indian team’s campaign started with two practice matches against the Los Leones (The Lions) and will be followed by the FIH Pro League double header, finally concluding with two more matches as part of their Tokyo Olympic 2020 (now 2021) preparations.
The all important India vs Argentina FIH Pro League matches will be played on Saturday 10th April and Sunday 11 April, but will be available a day later i.e. Sunday 11th April and Monday 12th April, both at 1:30 AM IST. All of the matches will be played at the CeNARD sports complex in Buenos Aires.
Squad
India has picked a strong 22 member squad that strikes the right balance between giving experience and opportunities to players to perform on the international stage in the lead-up to the Tokyo 2021 Summer Olympics. It includes a number of returnees – in drag-flick expert Rupinder Pal Singh, defender Birendra Lakra and forward Mandeep Singh while the experienced trio of Akashdeep Singh, Ramandeep Singh and Simranjeet Singh have been rested.
Goalkeepers: PR Sreejesh, Krishan Pathak
Defender: Harmanpreet Singh (vice-captain), Birendra Lakra, Rupinder Pal Singh, Varun Kumar, Surender Kumar, Amit Rohidas, Gurinder Singh
Midfielder: Manpreet Singh (captain), Vivek Sagar Prasad, Sumit, Nilakanta Sharma, Shamsher Singh, Gurjant Singh, Dilpreet Singh, Raj Kumar Pal, Jaskaran Singh, Hardik Singh
Forwards: Mandeep Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Shilanand Lakra
FIH Standings
India are placed at the fifth position while Olympic champions Argentina have slipped to sixth in the latest FIH Men’s World Ranking standings in what has been a tough year with negligible competitive hockey for every team in the world.
But there are good signs for hockey lovers the world over as events resumed, starting with India’s European friendlies tour in February that was followed by the recommencement of the FIH Pro league season. India is unbeaten so far, following up on their exploits in the European leg. It has played two out of the four practice matches with Argentina as a pre-cursor to the Pro League encounters between these sides. Here’s looking at the highlights of the practice games.
The opening match
In the first fixture, both teams started cautiously in the first quarter taking time to find their feet and make play in the opponent’s circle. It was Indian midfielder Nilakanta Sharma who opened the scoring in the opening minute of the 2nd quarter, courtesy a precise assist from the young forward Shilanand Lakra who started upfront. Thereafter, India were 2-0 up at half-time courtesy a trademark dragflick from Harmanpreet Singh after Dilpreet Singh had earned a penalty corner (PC), with custodian Sreejesh thwarting all counter attempts in our goal.
The Argentinians were quick to respond after the break with Leandro Tolini converting a PC, only for India to restore the two goal cushion with a Rupinder Pal Singh PC goal. But the hosts continued to build the pressure but this time it was Sreejesh’s deputy the young India goalkeeper Krishna Pathak who was alert to stop all the attempts fired at him. However, the Los Leones were eventually rewarded with a Maico Casella goal in the end of the 3rd quarter.
The final quarter remained a close affair with both teams pushing for a win. It was Dilpreet again who setup a PC with his fine play in the second minute, which was duly converted by Varun Kumar who was playing after 18 months having battled multiple injury scares. Tolini added another goal to his tally as the hosts cut the deficit to a solitary goal but the Indian defense was resolute for the remainder of 6 minutes to come out with a well-earned victory. The highlight being that all three dragflickers in Harmanpreet, Rupinder and Varun scored for the visitors.
“It was a very good practice match, intensely fought by both teams. It is always nice to come up with a win against a team like Olympic Champions Argentina as it amplifies our confidence levels. We were able to create opportunities in the circle and also convert them. This was one of the areas we really put our minds to in the national camp back in SAI, Bengaluru. But we allowed Argentina to come back into the first game particularly in the third quarter where they scored twice. When you play a strong team like them, we need to be consistent in all the quarters.” – Chief Coach Graham Reid on the practice matches in the ongoing Argentina tour.
Final practice
The second match was an equally high goal scoring affair. In fact India scored three goals in the opening quarter itself with the hosts also opening their account in between India’s opening two goals. It was Varun who opened the scoring from a PC in the 7th minute that was neatly earned by forward Mandeep Singh. India were pegged back by the fighting Argentines immediately in the 10th minute as Tolini added to his two goal tally from the previous match, being spot on in his PC conversions. Continuing his fine attacking form, Nilakanta turned provider again with an assist that was neatly finished by Rajkumar Pal in the 13th minute. In the next minute, Rupinder turned a PC goal after some good stick work from forward Lalit Upadhyay. Such was the intensity of the first quarter that the break would have somewhat stopped the Indian momentum, much to the relief of the hosts.
The second quarter was equally fast paced with attacks earning multiple PCs for both teams where Argentina forced their way to reduced the margin with a fine goal from Lucas Toscani to make the score 3-2. This was the tone of the entire first half as both teams vied for the ball, trying to dictate terms on the field by playing a very attacking brand of hockey. Post half-time, the game resumed again with both teams being on par with each other in terms of tactics and skills, only for Argentina’s attacking midfielder Ignacio Ortiz to break the gridlock to bring the scores level at 3-3 and thereby bringing the match to an interesting point.
Dilpreet’s foray into the striking circle resulted in another PC just a minute before the end of the 3rd quarter and that was converted by none other than Varun who looks to be in red-hot form! The last quarter was indeed nervy with The Lions upping the ante and pushing the visitors on the backfoot with persistent attacks. India custodian Krishan Pathak made a brilliant save to keep the hosts at bay in the early minutes but it was Lucas’s field goal in the 57th minute that brought an end to this thrilling encounter that ended with a 4-4 stalemate.
Comebacks
It was heartening to see defender Varun Kumar play and get on the scoresheet not just once but thrice over the two matches as the 25-year-old was making a comeback after one and a half years on the sidelines with multiple injury concerns – shoulder, hamstring and having contracted Covid as well. Varun’s last international match was in the Belgian tour way back in October 2019, this after coming up the ranks from the victorious Men’s Hockey Junior World Cup side and becoming one of the mainstays in the central defensive pairing with his consistent performances thereafter.
“It wasn’t easy for me. Being out for a long period would sometimes take a toll on me mentally and my mind would begin to wander. I slowly began to accept that such injuries, and the subsequent layoff periods, are a part and parcel of a player’s life. My coaches and the senior players in the side such as Manpreet Singh, PR Sreejesh and Rupinder Pal Singh guided me a lot. They are big players who have seen many highs and lows in their careers. They told me to work hard on regaining my fitness and giving my 100 percent once the opportunity comes along. Their advice helped me immensely.” – Indian Men’s Hockey Team Defender Varun Kumar.
Captain Manpreet Singh and senior dragflicker Rupinder Pal Singh who had opted out of the European tour in February due to personal reasons were the other two members who are also making comebacks on the tour, apart from Varun.
Holistically, the Indian side’s showing in the practice matches augers well for the upcoming FIH Pro League matches against Argentina. Here’s wishing them all the best and hoping for an equally thrilling, entertaining and brilliant performance from the lads.
Vishy Punditry 
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