Asia Cup Hockey: Fulton banks on familiar faces and experience as India look to qualify for World Cup

The Indian men's hockey team is back in action after a gap of two months for the all-important Asia Cup in Rajgir, Bihar, which starts from August 29.

Harmanpreet Singh and co. are getting back to serious business after they endured a very difficult campaign at the FIH Pro League, particularly in the European leg, where they lost seven of the eight matches and finished second from bottom.

Since then, head coach Craig Fulton and his team were involved in an intense two-week camp at their home base in Bengaluru before going to Australia to play a few games in preparations for the Asia Cup.

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Teams and format

Eight teams are playing in the tournament.

Pool A: India, China, Japan and Kazakhstan.

Pool B: Bangladesh, Chinese Taipei, Malaysia and South Korea.

Each team will play their pool opponents once and the top two from both pools will qualify for the Super 4s.

The Super 4s will once again be a round robin format and the top two will make it to the final and the bottom two will play the third and fourth place match.

India's schedule:

August 29: India vs China at 3 PM.

August 31: Japan vs India at 3 PM.

September 1: India vs Kazakhstan at 7:30 PM.

The Super 4s begin from September 3. The final and the third and fourth place match are scheduled for September 7.

What happened to Pakistan?

Pakistan refused to travel to India for the tournament, and they were replaced by Bangladesh. Oman is another country which didn't make it to India and they were replaced by Kazakhstan.

Teams who miss their chance of making it to the World Cup via continental tournaments will be part of qualification tournaments next year involving 16 teams. Each tournament will feature eight teams and the top three from each and the highest-ranking team that finishes in fourth place from each event will make it to the World Cup.

India's squad for Asia Cup

Goalkeepers: Krishan B Pathak, Suraj Karkera.           

Defenders: Sumit, Jarmanpreet Singh, Sanjay, Harmanpreet Singh, Amit Rohidas, Jugraj Singh. 

Midfielders: Rajinder Singh, Raj Kumar Pal, Hardik Singh, Manpreet Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad.

Forwards: Mandeep Singh, Shilanand Lakra, Abhishek, Sukhjeet Singh, Dilpreet Singh.

Alternate athletes: Nilam Sanjeep Xess, Selvam Karthi.

The Big Picture

Despite a disappointing outing for the majority of the players at the Pro League, Fulton has picked a tried and trusted squad for the Asia Cup. There were a few question marks on senior players like Mandeep Singh, Dilpreet Singh, Krishan Pathak and Amit Rohidas who were not at their best in the previous big matches, but Fulton is not ready to make big changes. It's understandable since this is an important tournament with World Cup qualification on the line.

There's no denying that senior players need to make improvements. Forwards Mandeep and Dilpreet have to step up in pressure situations and make their chances count. Sukhjeet Singh and Shilanand Lakra have had their moments, but consistency is an issue. Only Abhishek has been a reliable threat inside the D and a consistent scorer of field goals.

"We're not so good at efficiency in terms of counter-attacking. We win the ball and go but don't get a lot of outcomes. We're trying to improve the tactical side of that. So, that's also personnel, that's also combination, that's also technical but mainly it's decision-making. Under fatigue, we want them to make better decisions," Fulton told ESPN during his training camp in Bengaluru.

"As long as you're seeing more than two options, like ultimately you need three then you make the best decision."

The decision-making aspect was an issue at the Pro League where more often, players looked bereft of ideas while carrying the ball forward. It's concerning because the same set of players have plenty of international experience and the majority of them were involved in the Paris Olympics bronze medal-winning campaign.

It's understandable if decision-making is a problem in a young squad with less experience of playing big matches but that's not the case with this Indian team. So far, Fulton has not been ready to make changes in terms of personnel, which means he's not giving up on his senior players and is hoping the issue will be rectified at the Asia Cup.

Another issue was the form of goalkeepers, especially Krishan Pathak. He was expected to take charge as the senior goalkeeper post the retirement of PR Sreejesh but has been struggling with his form since the start of the year. Fulton took the blame on himself as he cited 'a lack of goalkeeping coaching from his side' and said they have worked hard to rectify in the training camp.

The teams at the Asia Cup are not in the same class as the Europeans or Australia but they can cause serious damage. The next best teams after India are Malaysia and South Korea and both are ranked outside the top ten. India are far superior in all the departments but the important thing to keep in mind is only one winner can make it to the World Cup. In big pressure games, the sides are most often evened out. India have performed well in knockout tournaments, like the Asian Games and Olympic Games, and they will look to do the same in Rajgir. If they fail, there will be another chance for the World Cup but it will do immense damage to players' morale, and pressure will mount on Fulton.