When India left for Europe for their two-part assignment, a three-nations invitational tournament in Germany and then the Hockey World League Semi-final in London, coach Roelant Oltmans' stated aim was for the Indians to finish in the top three.
It wasn't an entirely unrealistic goal, given India's ranking of sixth. Only Argentina (1) and Netherlands (4) were ranked higher than India, who would have hoped to first reach the last four, and then fight it out, possibly with the seventh-ranked hosts England. It was also a return to the venue where, last June, India made the Champions Trophy final for the first time, losing only in a shootout to reigning world champions Australia.
A 3-2 defeat to Canada (11) on the final day of competition now condemns them to a sixth-place finish, and with three losses in seven games -- two of them to lower-ranked opposition in matches that mattered in terms of final placement -- it would be fair to call India's overall performance in this tournament a failure, the reasons for which aren't too difficult to find.
Defence caved in at critical times
If one looks at India's four wins in isolation, they created enough pressure to keep the opposition teams on the backfoot. In those matches, the only time they trailed was in the first match against Scotland, where the lowest-ranked team in the tournament at 23rd took an early lead, but India came back strong in the third quarter to score four goals.
Against Netherlands, the first quarter and the early part of the second saw India overrun by the Dutch, and that was one game where they were genuinely outplayed all the way through. Against both Malaysia (14) and Canada, India created their openings, but found their finishing touch missing. The percentage of conversion of circle penetrations to shots was uncannily similar -- they could create just 10 shots in 27 against Malaysia in the quarterfinals, and 47 such entries led to just 17 shots in the fifth-place playoff against the Canadians.
Forwards blew hot and cold
One of the biggest mysteries was that Mandeep Singh lost the scoring touch he had shown earlier in the year. He finally got on the scoresheet twice during the 6-1 win over Pakistan on Saturday, but his efforts on Sunday were for naught.
Akashdeep Singh and Ramandeep Singh had good tournaments, but when it mattered the most, the finishing touch went missing for both men. Ramandeep got India back in the Malaysia game with a brace, but missed a sitter with seconds to go. Against Canada on Sunday, India's forwards failed to convert what was probably one of the team's best midfield shows in the tournament into enough clear-cut opportunities. That eight of the penalty corners resulted in the only two goals of the match for India spoke as much about India's lack of confidence with the finishing as it did of Antoni Kindler's performance in goal.
Loss of concentration in clutches
India finished the tournament with 25 goals scored and 12 conceded, admittedly improving on their overall rate of conversion in recent tournaments. However, more than half of those goals came against a Pakistan team that looked like a pale shadow of their usual combative selves. Nine of the goals conceded came in the three defeats, and they always happened in clutches.
Against both Netherlands and Malaysia, India conceded two goals very early in the match, making it easier for the opposition to then organise themselves defensively. In Sunday's game against Canada, India conceded early but came back through two Harmanpreet Singh penalty corner conversions to lead 2-1 at half-time. After looking good for most of the third quarter, they conceded the equaliser and then the eventual winner in a short span of time.
In crucial moments of the crunch matches, they appeared to panic and didn't have enough leadership on-field to be able to stem the tide and prevent goals from leaking.
Sterner tests ahead
It would be convenient to point out that India are hosts and thus have directly qualified for both the World League Final this December and the 2018 World Cup in Bhubaneswar. However, their losses have come against teams that are all part of the 16-team fold next year, with Netherlands set to come up against India again during the World League Final.
The Asia Cup -- which India last won in 2007 -- in Dhaka later this year will not be an easy field either. Korea and Pakistan may have been poor in London, but will look to win the tournament to book their ticket to the World Cup. Malaysia have already beaten India in successive games this year, and China showed a big improvement in the World League Semi-final in England.
There's another Semi-final tournament in South Africa from which the top four -- in all likelihood, three of those would be Australia, Germany and Belgium -- will join Argentina, England, Netherlands and India in the Final in December. India's most recent matches against all three contenders for a top-three finish in South Africa have resulted in at least one defeat apiece, with each of the teams having fielded teams without several regular players.
Poor passages of play and an inability to convert chances will need to be ironed out if India hope to compete better with high-quality hockey teams.