Bangalore: So what if goalkeeper Bharat Chetri is the captain of the Indian hockey team which left for Australia on Tuesday? He may have to make do without a few matches to let P Sreejesh get his share of exposure under the bar.<\/p>\n
A difficult situation for anyone to fathom but for chief coach Michael Nobbs, it is just another chapter in his exercise to prise out leaders from the squad. Chetri’s skills as captain will definitely be under the scanner but that will not distract Nobbs’ from the other main objective of testing his bench strength.<\/p>\n
“Chetri and Sreejesh will take turns in the goal as it happened in China,” Nobbs said. “Even if it means Chetri is on the bench for certain periods. We will have Ignace who is the vice-captain. There may be somebody else on the field. I don’t know who that’s going to be at this stage but there’s going to be a leader at all stages.”<\/p>\n
Nobbs felt that at this stage, India did not have a No.1 goalkeeper. “They’re both equal. They proved that in China.”<\/p>\n
The Australian refused to lay too much emphasis on the four-nation nine-a-side, saying they were fun games. “Absolutely zero,” he said, when asked whether the nine-a-side results matter.<\/p>\n
“It’s a great exhibition of hockey to see if it’s worthwhile being pursued later on. We’re putting more emphasis on the 11-a-side primarily because it’s another step towards the Olympic qualifiers. Fortunately, we have two or three of the best teams in the world playing. It will be a great exposure.”<\/p>\n
However, Nobbs agreed that a shift from nine-a-side to regular hockey would be difficult. “There will be a culture shock. In nine-a-side, you attack at full pace for the full game but don’t worry too much about defence. And then we have to go worrying about real hockey. We found that once the guys have played nine-a-side, they want to continue playing that even with 11 on the field,” he said.<\/p>\n
The chief coach also revealed that he had changed the positions of two senior players. ” Sardar Singh, who was a defender when Jose Brasa was the coach, will now be an inside forward. We need to find a good, thinking player in that position and we thought of Sardar. He is struggling a bit now but I am sure he will adapt soon. Arjun Halappa too has been moved to the inside forward position,” he said.<\/p>\n
India’s schedule:<\/p>\n
Men: Oct 17: India vs Australia ‘A’; Oct 18: India vs New Zealand.<\/p>\n
International Super Series 9-a-side at Perth: Oct 20: vs New Zealand; Oct 21: vs Pakistan; Oct 22: vs Australia (two matches per team on all days). Oct 23: Final & 3\/4 place.<\/p>\n
International tournament: Oct 26: India vs Australia at Busselton; Oct 27: India vs Pakistan at Busselton; Oct 31: India vs Australia at Bunbury; Nov 1: India vs Pakistan at Bunbury; Nov 3: Final.<\/p>\n
Women: Oct 14, 15, 17, 18: Tests vs Australia.<\/p>\n
International Super Series 9-a-side Tournament at Perth: Oct 20: vs Malaysia; Oct 21: vs Australia; Oct 22: vs Malaysia and vs Australia (two matches per team on all days); Oct 23: Final & 3\/4 place match.<\/p>\n
TOI<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Bangalore: So what if goalkeeper Bharat Chetri is the captain of the Indian hockey team which left for Australia on Tuesday? He may have to make do without a few matches to let P Sreejesh get his share of exposure under the bar. A difficult situation for anyone to fathom but for chief coach Michael […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-from-the-newspapers"],"yoast_head":"\n