Indian hockey captain Harmanpreet Singh insists the team will not overthink their scoring methods following a 3-1 World Cup victory over Wales.
Indian captain Harmanpreet Singh has brushed off questions regarding the team's heavy reliance on penalty corners following a 3-1 World Cup victory over Wales. Harmanpreet scored twice and Sanjay Rana added another as all three of India's goals against Wales came from short corners.
The 30-year-old skipper defended forwards Mandeep Singh, Abhishek Nain, and Sukhjeet Singh after their link-up play lacked a final pass or finishing touch in the match. 'They are playing well. They are creating so many chances in the D, so it doesn’t matter if we are scoring a field goal or creating a PC. At the end of the day, we are getting goals, that’s more important,' Harmanpreet said.
Harmanpreet's brace against Wales pushed his career goal tally to 254, with 217 of those (85.43%) coming from short corners. Data shows India wins 69% of its matches when Harmanpreet scores.
Questions over India's scoring balance follow a difficult Pro League campaign where the team finished eighth in the standings. In the 10 Pro League matches Harmanpreet played, India converted nine of 43 short corners, with the captain scoring twice. Overall across 16 Pro League games, India scored 16 field goals and 13 penalty corner goals, though six field goals and 24 of their 63 short corners came against last-placed Pakistan. Against top-seven teams across 14 games, India converted just eight of 39 short corners.
Refusing to focus on past statistics, Harmanpreet expressed confidence in India's ultimate goal at the tournament. 'We are not going to overthink things. We know our values and targets. We are here for the World Cup, we are going to win this,' he said.
Reporting sourced from The Hindu Hockey. Photo courtesy The Hindu Hockey.