 Hello and welcome to NewsClick. Over the next two weeks, we will be covering the Hockey World Cup being held in Bhubaneshwar. This, the first show of our series, is a primer where we will discuss the why, the who and the what of the World Cup. I am Vaibhav Raghunandan and with me is Leslie Xavier. So Leslie, let's start with the why. Why should you watch the World Cup? It's hockey. The World Cup is happening in India. The Indian team is playing and we are one of the favourites. At least, that's what we'd love to believe. So, the atmosphere would be tremendous. The game would be high intensity. The best in the world is playing and serious hockey that too. It's not like it's a champion's trophy or any other tournament where development squad comes. This is the full big thing, big deal and we are going full out. Supposedly going full out for victory as well. So, your aircourts makes me feel like you are not convinced with the favourites tag. Is there a specific reason behind this? Firstly, I believe that we are not starting favourites as favourites. One of the favourites to be politically correct, I would say we are one of the favourites. But to be honest, at a World Cup, looking at how things pan out in the last few editions. I mean, ever since 1975, I would say when we last won the World Cup. I mean, people may call me rude or pessimistic but that's how it is. That's how hockey has left us behind. And so, we did some catching up in the last few years. But will this squad be considered as a firm favourite for a medal? If not the trophy in itself, I would say no. It's a very tricky tournament because we have some great teams there. The top 16 in the world we are talking about. And then Australia, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Argentina, full-blown squads coming here and playing. So, you can. So, what is the India squad like? I mean, we all have now gotten details about what India's 18-member squad is. What do you think? Where do our strengths lie? What are our weaknesses, if any? And how are we going to exploit other teams' weaknesses and not expose our own? Now, without getting into too much of details as to how our composition is, I would just get straight away, cut into the gist. I think we have a very strong defence and a fee but decent forward line. But the most important segment on the hockey field, I'm sure you would agree with me on this. In modern hockey, the midfield, the role midfield, transition, it's a huge role. And that is where I think we would lack a little as far as experience is concerned because the... For those of you who are living under a rock, Sardar Singh has retired and he is not going to be playing the World Cup. So, what Leslie means to say is that there is a big void in our team in the shape of Sardar Singh. So, Sardar, the former captain, his so-called replacement, Manpreet Singh, he would be the main man in the middle as far as midfield is concerned and then he would be helped by Chingalsen who has experienced himself, a great player. But beyond that, after that, it's a little inexperienced side. Obviously, Aarendra would be comfortable with them because some of them are from his junior squad. And we are looking at the future. But then for us, this World Cup is important because it's held at home and also it's at the fag end of a season which we were aiming to qualify for the Olympics, which never happened because of the Asian game, direct qualification. So, the boys, the men would want to end the season on a high at home and then carry that kind of confidence going into the qualifying cycle. And so, Sardar's presence in that middle of the field would be not continuously, the criticism was that he has become slow, he has injury, things like that. But critical junctures would be there in matches, especially important matches, be it a group decide or be it knockouts, where Sardar's presence would actually stabilize the midfield and the coach, Aarendra, would be able to implement certain transitions or certain changes in strategy or play which Sardar would be able to implement, which I doubt Manpreet has that kind of a command in the middle. You may disagree. No, I'm a firm believer in letting retired people stay retired, especially if they want to retire. So, I don't believe that we can sit around here, ruin Sardar Singh's absence because it isn't as if he's out because of injuries, out because he's decided he doesn't want to play for India anymore. And we should just leave him be. On the other side, I do agree with the fact that it does mean that we have less experience, but I'm also of the belief that sometimes not having too much experience going into a big tournament like this could work wonders. So, we can see our first game is against South Africa. What is acceptable? What is not? The easiest possible start to a tournament at home. I mean, South Africa is the weakest team in that. No disrespect. I mean, in that team, no doubt about it. And India can start out with a bang, so to speak. But when you think about starting off with a bang, I would prefer the team management to use this match to actually try out a few more things because we got us away. They shouldn't go all guns blazing and then something like what happened in Asian games. So, their practice match, they had played one practice match against Argentina, which they won quite comprehensively. They won 5-0. 5-0 and Argentines are the world number three side. So, that would be a confidence booster for them. But again, practice matches are different from the tournament. And you are talking at a huge atmosphere in that stadium. Kalinga Stadium is probably the best stadium for hockey as far as spectator and the atmosphere that the spectators create is concerned. Tremendous love for hockey in that part of the world. And then, so every single one most probably would be rooting for India. So, it's players with an easy match getting used to that atmosphere, having a victory and then going into 3K matches in the group because they are big teams there. So, that would be the priority. So, that brings me to the next point, which is that there are three fixtures in each group. And thankfully, our toughest fixture will come after our warm-up game against South Africa when we face Belgium. Belgium are world number three. They are a very, very, very good side. They are silver medalists at the Olympics. And although they have right now, they would have probably come out of an indoor season. They come into the World Cup. What is the forecast? Realistically speaking, I can't help but think that Belgium would be through the group stage as winners because simply speaking that how the team is, how their form has been and looking behind at major tournament that they have played in the last one year or subsequent to their Olympic silver medal, how they have fared. So, it's a team in great shape. And like I said, you are talking about the World Cup and indoor season, great. But I'm sure these players are professional enough and they play leagues. They are professional enough to understand when to peak and how to peak and all those things. So, I think they are going to come in prepared. One factor would be getting used to the conditions in India. So, once they have done that and they will have the luxury of an opening match too. So, they would have set things rolling that way. So, for those of you, this is like a quick primer. There are four groups. The winners of each group go through directly to the quarters. And the second and third of each group play each other in crossover matches. The winners, four teams again, will go through and join the guys in the quarters. So, as of now, the way India's group is, there is Belgium, India, Canada and South Africa. In the group that we may actually end up playing, either us or our group will play crossovers, are the Netherlands, Germany, Malaysia and Pakistan. They call it the group of death, that group. Group D, right? Yes. And so, Pakistan team landed. And the coach has already sent out ominous quotes. So, this week, not ominous signs, because the team has obviously been not in... I mean, generally Pakistan hockey has not been in a pink of health. In fact, a month back, a couple of weeks back at the FIH Congress here, I had a chance to meet with Shabas, the great Shabas. And he was also mentioning that it's a developmental stage for Pakistan hockey. So, he's trying to figure out how to push Pakistan back into this thing. Having said that, the team always plays with great spirit. Pakistan hockey, the beauty of Pakistan hockey is that, and one would love to watch them in a latter stage in any tournament for that matter. I remember probably the most fiery game of hockey I've ever had the pleasure of seeing live was India vs Pakistan in the Champions Trophy semi-final in Bhuvaneshwar four years back. And the spirit of hockey was ruined a little bit right at the end, but it was a fascinating game of hockey. There's very little chance of that happening this time around, simply because of the permutations, more than anything else. So, I feel they open, Pakistan open against Germany, and observe Germans are. And Netherlands, again, a team in great form. They're world number six now. I think Netherlands are four, and Germany are ranked below us. Surprisingly. But maybe this World Cup might change all those things. So, we can't go, in that top eight, we can't go by rankings that way. But still, one would give the benefit to the top three, because top three are top three, and they are there because of reason. And so, in this specific group, I would expect one of these European teams, Germany or Netherlands to go out, directly qualify for the quarters as the top team, and then one of them coming into the crossover. Then it's between Malaysia and Pakistan. I would, with our former coach, Terry Walsh, and our former director, Old Men's, working with them. And they, obviously, were in a great form in at the Asian Games. We realized that too. So, I think they would be the one to progress, and Pakistan might not. So, but yeah, we would expect, if a crossover stage is happening, then I would want India playing Pakistan. That would be an interesting match for the spectators. From what I can see of the last couple of tournaments, I can just say that maybe the correct way to go about it is to go the Japan way, which is you take it easy in the group stages and lose by comprehensive score lines, then you get into the knockouts and squeeze through and win the tournament. Yeah. Is that like a thing? So, when you mentioned that, I'm going back to the hockey world league, which India won a bronze in Raipur. Yes. And so, it was a similar situation there. They managed to reach the... In fact, at the Champions Trophy earlier this year too, India won, they managed to hold on for a lot of draws in the league stage of that tournament, and then they got on to the same finals, got through the same finals, and then lost in the final. But it was a peculiar time in Indian hockey because of hockey in the league. These players knew intensity, they knew... I mean, for some reason, India has vained a little as far as finishing off matches are concerned, and part of it is because I think they're off the boil, competition-wise. So, let's just be very critical about it because Indians play in camps. Indians don't play tournaments, they don't play friendlies, and they don't play leagues, they are not allowed to go outside and play leagues. So, HIL was a great opportunity, but beyond that, that HIL generation has gotten old, and the youngsters don't have the same exposure as such. So, that is going to be a Achilles' Eel also for India, I feel, and doing a Raipur again. So, here we go. India can't close out matches, India have a slightly weakened midfield, India have the crowd, and India are the hosts, and India are also one of the favourites. We can only hope that this is going to be an exciting couple of weeks for us, and by the end of it, by the end of our last show, maybe, maybe one of us will be eating humble pie. One second though, so you are saying that India are favourites? Yeah, I'm not going to say India are favourites, but being a little bit naive and a little bit die-hard blue, I'm going to say that I feel like we could get through to the semis, and then it's just one game. I need to Google and find out where you get a humble pie in Bhubaneswara, so that I can buy it for you. Keep watching, I hope you guys can enjoy our show. Thank you.