India head coach Craig Fulton
The chief coach, however, insists the team is focused, with all its energies channelled towards achieving their first podium finish in 51 years. We are ranked seventh in the world and we’ve got a 5% chance of winning, which is fantastic. It was an amazing time together which has helped us set up how we want to operate in the next 3-4 weeks. Harman got to a point where he took 80% of the penalty corners. He had 10 goals in Paris with penalty corners. If we can place 2-3 other players around him, it doesn’t always depend on him. That’s what we’ve been trying to build for the last 18 months since Paris.
Because we know the opposition, we’re quite happy with our pool just. BENGALURU: Being the coach of an Indian hockey team at the moment is hardly an enviable job. With the FIH World Cup followed immediately by the Asian Games, Craig Fulton’s side has a packed calendar to negotiate. Add to that the controversy over the change in the team’s jersey colour, which threatened to overshadow their World Cup campaign. Excepts… We come into this World Cup not being the favourites. We start with all our eggs in the basket against Wales. We’re going to go full in for that game and take it one game at a time. There is no pressure on us. The only pressure is that we want to bring pride back to the World Cup from an Indian perspective, but also write our own piece of World Cup history from an Indian perspective. We had a team-building camp in Switzerland with mental conditioning specialist Paddy Upton . Two things happen when you move out of your own bubble. One, you realise the privilege of playing for your country and the immense pride that you can bring to your nation. You also have a very supportive govt, with SAI and Hockey India wanting the best for everyone in terms of performance. It’s about getting comfortable with the fact that you’ve been chosen for a reason. Also, it was about staying humble and realising that there is a process to be followed and we can’t jump to the final. How does the inclusion of youngsters like Yashdeep Siwach and Aditya Lalage enhance team balance? That’s huge amount of responsibility. We’re starting to get some traction there. Apart from Wales, we also play England and Pakistan in the league phase. We played both teams in the Pro League. England are always a threat. We match up nicely against each other. Anytime we play Pakistan, it is exciting. That team is rebuilding. The match will improve the rivalry. There’s never a dull moment in a game against them.