Their campaign of to a rousing start, Indian men’s hockey team will be eyeing yet another morale-boosting big win over minnows Oman on Tuesday ahead of their crucial pool match against archrivals Pakistan at the 17th Asian Games here.
After drubbing lowly Sri Lanka 8-0 in their opening Pool B match, India will take on Oman at the Seonhak Hockey Stadium tomorrow before taking on arch-rivals Pakistan (on September 25) and the gutsy Chinese side (September 27).
The match against Oman on Tuesday would not only hand India a chance to register their second consecutive win in the tournament but would also give the eight-time Olympic champions an opportunity to iron out their mistakes ahead of the high-volatage clash against Pakistan.
Even though India won comfortably against Sri Lanka on Sunday, the Sardar Singh-led side were far from impressive, wasting plenty of scoring chances. They even looked rusty in patches.
On Tuesday, chief coach Terry Walsh would be hoping for a clinical performance from his wards and register a win by much bigger margin than what they had achieved against the island nation in their lung opener.
Lanky dragflicker Rupinderpal Singh, who scored a hat-trick against Sri Lanka would be eyeing to continue his goal-scoring spree while striker Ramandeep Singh, who pumped in two goals yesterday, will hold the key to the forwardline.
India would definitely start as overwhelming favourites against Oman and a win is a mere formality for Sardar’s men provided Oman doesn’t come with a shocking result, which is highly unlikely.
A commanding performance would definitely act as confidence booster for the Indians ahead of their fancied clash against Pakistan.
India’s defence has hardly been tested against Sri Lanka yesterday and it is expected to go the same way against Oman, which just might be a cause of concern for chief coach Walsh as they take on tough opponents in Pakistan and China in their final two pool matches.
All in all come tomorrow, it would be the last opportunity for India’s chief coach Walsh to test all his resources and try out his strategies ahead of key pool clashes.
