The French call it l’echelle de Zidane.
Loosely translated as the ‘Zidane scale’, it’s a phrase used to describe the pleasure generated by a sporting spectacle. On a ‘Zidane scale of 10′, the scenes at the historic Yves du Manoir Stadium would go off the charts.
Ending years of hurt, erasing the memories of all the recent and old spankings, India defeated Australia, their bete noire, 3-2 in their concluding Pool B match. The unlikely win meant they finished second behind Belgium and set up a quarterfinal encounter against either Britain — a possible rematch of the Tokyo Games last-8 fixture that India won — or Germany.
This must be a new feeling for an Indian hockey follower, who is so used to watching the team getting thrashed by the Kookaburras at the big stages — before Friday, India had not beaten Australia in the Olympics since Munich 1972.
What was different, you’d wonder? Nothing profound – it was as close as India got to playing a perfect game, returning to their roots of fast, counterattacking hockey, not making any of their typical errors, and impeccable decision-making.
As was the case in Tokyo, where India finished on the podium for the first time since 1980, it was goalkeeper PR Sreejesh who had the final say. With Australia upping the ante in the final five minutes when they reduced the 1-3 deficit to 2-3, they made a final foray into the Indian ‘D’ with barely seconds left to play.
Sreejesh stepped out of his lines to thwart the attack and was on his backside when an Australian attacker unleashed a desperate shot inside a crowded ‘D’. Sreejesh stuck out his left hand and parried the ball away. The hooter sounded and the Indians just let out a huge, audible sigh. They were drained to even celebrate this humongous win, which has the potential to be a transformative moment of their campaign.
It was poetic that Sreejesh — who made numerous match-winning saves, including from point-blank ranges — had the final defining touch. In his farewell tournament, he can now boast of having done something the previous generations haven’t — this, in addition to the Olympic bronze he already has.
At Tokyo 2020, PR Sreejesh played a pivotal role in helping India secure their first-ever Hockey medal at the Olympics since 1980. (Reuters)
But this match wasn’t about Sreejesh alone. It needed a complete team effort for India to stop Australia from going on another rampage like they did in Tokyo, and all the other previous big tournament matches. It also needed a massive tactical intervention from coach Craig Fulton, who is revealing his cards one at a time.
The noticeable difference was how India attacked. Until his match, India have largely been patient in the build-ups, passing the ball cautiously to not lose possession, spotting the gaps on the field and then moving forward. Sideways passing isn’t how India played. A team that loves to be direct, the players looked a little constrained in this approach, unable to show the full scale of their prowess.
On Friday, they were liberated. Like the India of the past, they went from zero to 100 within the blink of an eye and complimented the pace with immaculate precision. It was a rare day when the ball moved from stick to stick effortlessly (some of India’s one-touch play in the attacking third was sparkling), the trapping errors were few and the decisions spot on.
The last bit, the decision-making, was evident in the way India scored the first goal. Mandeep Singh got the ball inside Australia’s ‘D’ and didn’t have a direct opening at goal. He saw Abhishek unmarked and passed the ball to him.
The young forward from Haryana, groomed by a Hindi teacher in his early days, took a couple of touches to take the ball to the top of the ‘D’, where he is most comfortable and on the turn, unleashed a power hit that gave the Australian goalkeeper no chance to save. Like the Indian legend Gaganajit Singh’s signature tomahawks and the dribble that became synonymous with Dhanraj Pillay, the shot-on-the-turn is fast becoming Abhishek’s signature.
The 12th-minute goal seemed to have shaken Australia, who are so used to scoring first in this fixture. Today, it was India showing the same level of ruthlessness. A minute later, Manpreet Singh — who was immense; joined the attacks, helping the defence; he even made a last-ditch goal-line clearance on a rare occasion when Sreejesh was beaten — and then threaded a through ball that would have made even Zidane proud.
From the centre of the pitch, he drilled in a pass that opened up Australia’s defence, created panic and led to them conceding a penalty corner. India’s conversion rate hadn’t been impressive — they had scored only three from the set-piece from 26 attempts. But the hockey Gods were smiling on them today and captain Harmanpreet Singh needed just one chance to get on the scoreboard. The canon-like shot he fired, stayed low and thudded into the wooden boards; the sweet sound of India doubling their lead.
By their lofty standards, Australia have had an average tournament (they still beat New Zealand 5-0 on Thursday) but even they wouldn’t have seen this coming.
But Australia doesn’t surrender cheaply. And when Thomas Craig made the most of a defensive error to pull one back in the 25th minute, the ghosts of the past would have returned to haunt the Indian fans who’d have been bracing for another meltdown.
It never came. Quite the opposite. India grew in confidence with every passing minute; guarding their D so well that Australia were not given any free shots on goal. When they did go beyond the defence, Sreejesh was there to thwart them. And when the goalkeeper too was beaten, Indian defenders would pop out of nowhere to stop the ball from going in.
The workrate they put in showed just how much India wanted this win. The third goal India scored had all elements of this. Moments after the restart in the third quarter, Tom Wickham stole the ball from Hardik Singh and was bearing down on goal, only to be stopped by an onrushing Sreejesh. The goalkeeper padded the ball away, leading to an immediate transition.
Within microseconds, India were in Australia’s half. Mandeep Singh did what Mandeep Singh does – draw a foul. It earned India a penalty corner, which was stopped by the Australian defender at the goalpost by his foot. It resulted in a penalty stroke that Harmanpreet converted to put India 3-1 up.
Australia kept coming back and made it 3-2 in the 55th minute, and if not for Sreejesh, would have equalised in the last second.
Under Fulton, as a team-building exercise, India have scaled the Table Mountain and the Alps. But there’s been no mountain higher for them than Australia. On Friday, they conquered that as well.
