Hockey India League (HIL)

A forum to discuss Indian hockey and the disarray it is in despite the promising new professional PHL series.

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ssp
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Re: Hockey India League (HIL)

Post by ssp »

Yes Sameer, Ragunath and Akashdeep will be in. If Gurwinder Chandi and Mandeep are both unfit, then Yuvraj will make it too. I think Harjit, Gurinder and Varun kumar have no 'leverage', so Uthappa, Aiyappa and Nitin will be there to lose the ball at every opportunity. Gurbaj may still be in HI's bad books, so Gurmail will go instead, and then Danish will oust Vikas, so in effect we will have a team full of mediocre weaklings and then we will wonder why we are 10th or 12th at the WC. We don't even give ourselves a chance with such stupid selections.
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Re: Hockey India League (HIL)

Post by ssp »

Some disappointing news in the past few days; Mumbai Magicians and Ranchi Rhinos have withdrawn from the HIL. The reason seems to be financial losses. That doesn't bode well for the future.
Pune will have a team and Mumbai will have a new franchise, so hopefully, we are back to 6 teams rather than the 8 that HI were talking about recently.
I think all the teams need to trim their squads. Why have 8 foreign players when you can only field 5 during a match? Why have huge squads of 30 when the league only lasts 5 week. Several players hardly get any pitch time.
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Re: Hockey India League (HIL)

Post by ssp »

1st round of matches over for the 2015 of the HIL and some early observations:

1. Harmanpreet looks a good prospect.
2. Some exciting matches so far
3. The pitch for the UP v Delhi match was appalling
4. Akashdeep, Yuvraj Walmiki, Nikkin, Danish, Mandeep are so frustrating. Always lose the ball.(Chinglensana, too was his usual messy self, but then scored 2 absolute beauties!!) Why are these guys anywhere near the national team??
5. Still not seeing any outstanding Indian forwards.

Let's hope a few more youngsters emerge as stars for the future and more importantly, the selectors actually open their eyes and pick guys who have some quality.
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Re: Hockey India League (HIL)

Post by Qualia11 »

Varun Kumar looked impressive yesterday though he is not a forward but looks better than Raghunath
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Re: Hockey India League (HIL)

Post by ssp »

Varun Kumar looked impressive yesterday though he is not a forward but looks better than Raghunath
Varun played in the Sultan Johor Cup recently. Yes, he looks good, as does Gurinder and Harmanpreet (both also in U21 squad). Gurjinder too looks reasonably good, so we are getting some decent depth in defence and PC flickers. Varun played well in several positions yesterday.

In midfield, we have Sardar, Manpreet, Gurbaj, Kothajit with Pardeep Mor, Gurmail, Vikram Kanth and Vinaya as back up. Varun and Gurinder could play in midfield too, so good options in midfield as well.

It's attacking midfielders and forwards that are weak. We have tried Danish, Chinglensana, Dharamvir and Uthappa in the past year. First 2 are too weak on the ball and not creative enough. Uthappa has improved and Dharamvir is now one of our key players (after years of being mediocre/bad). Lalit could be an option here.

Forwards are now the weakest link. Too many times, they get over excited and mess up near the D. Akashdeep, Talwinder, Yuvraj, Mandeep, Malak, Satbir and Nikkin have trouble just trapping the ball. If they manage to control the ball then, they are easily dispossessed. Ramandeep and Sunil also make the wrong decisions or lose the ball too often, but they are capable of producing something brilliant as well. I'd try Roshan Minz, Mandeep Antil and Affan Youssuf. Maybe Chandi can regain full fitness and rediscover his form of a couple of years back.
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Re: Hockey India League (HIL)

Post by ssp »

Half way through this year's matches and looks like Mumbai & Kalinga Lancers will be the 2 teams to miss out from the semis. Some exciting matches and unpredictable results, but my impression is that our players are generally a few steps below the level of the overseas players. Some of the players who have represented India over the years are just so frustratingly inconsistent.

I watched Punjab lose to UP today. Sandeep was a passenger in defence and poor with his PC flicks. Time and time again, a promising move (for both teams) was ruined by one of our 'internationals' mis trapping or making a sloppy pass.

The other worrying trend is the poor defensive play by our current 'sloths'; Ragunath, Rupinder Pal and Gurjinder. All 3 have given away lots of PCs with awful tackles and also picked up plenty of green and yellow cards. We really can't afford this kind of handicap when we play top teams.

On the positive side, I have been impressed with several of our youngsters; Harmanpreet, Dipsan Tirkey, Varun, Gurinder and Harjeet. I've praised the last 2 in previous years' as well. I think both are ready to play for the senior team, but I suspect they will be held back for the Junior Asia cup. All 5 of these played in the Sultan of Johor cup win late last year. Harmanpreet could be a real asset as he has brilliant skills and can drag flick (a Jugraj type player at last). Varun, too can do both disciplines pretty well. Dipsan looks a real talent in defence (Dilip Tirkey replacement??). I also like Devinder Walmiki's play in defence or midfield. Lalit too is one to watch, but I think he has picked up an injury.

Otherwise, our more experienced internationals have looked pretty good; Sreejesh, Birendra, Kothajit, Gurbaj, Sardar, Manpreet, Ramandeep & Sunil. Dharamvir, Nikkin, Uthappa and Affan Youssuff can sometimes do brilliant things and then can't trap an easy pass or just lose the ball with really lazy, sloppy play.

I hope Van Ass can improve the discipline (cut down on cards and the crazy tackles by the sloths) and cut out the sloppy stuff. We are getting to the stage where we have decent options in most positions on the pitch.
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Re: Hockey India League (HIL)

Post by ssp »

Punjab and Ranchi Rays will contest the final. Punjab are the best team when they play their best Aussies (Knowles, Orchard, Hammond, Dwyer and Govers). Our players in the Punjab team have done well too.

Delhi have been poor in comparison to their previous 2 seasons. Sardar has been marked out of most matches and I think Van Ass needs to be clever in where he plays him. I would play him at the back or as an attacking midfielder and use Manpreet as our central midfield pivot.

Ranchi are in the final because of Jackson's brilliance. On the evidence of this league, Jackson seems to be among the best 3 players in the world.

The purpose of this league must be to unearth young Indian talent and this year has been quite good. We seem to have a good pool of defenders (where we have been abysmal for decades) and midfielders. Our forwards are still way below top standards. The Aussies are just brilliant as are the Dutch. Very enjoyable league and I hope tomorrow's games are exciting and the best team (Punjab) win it this year.
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Re: Hockey India League (HIL)

Post by ssp »

Punjab failed in the penalty shoot out for the 2nd year running. They just couldn't finish off the job although they were the best team. Unfortunately, Sandeep was their weakest link. He gave away the PC that led to Ranchi's first equalizer and missed a few PC attempts generally looked painfully slow.

For Ranchi, Jackson was simply brilliant in every match. In the final, Ajitesh Roy had a brilliant game as did Birendra, Manpreet and Kothajit.

I hope we have 8 teams next year to make it more competitive. As I mentioned in previous years' posts that to eliminate only 2 teams after a month's competition is not great. The organisers need to rethink the play offs. I would suggest 4th to play off v 3rd, and the winner to play v 2nd to decide who plays in the final v the league winners.
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Re: Hockey India League (HIL)

Post by ssp »

We are 10 days into the 2016 HIL. The new scoring system (field goal counts as 2 and PCs count for 1 goal) is interesting because it keeps close games alive throughout the match. It may catch on as we get more used to it.

My main interest is in the performance of our players. I have spotted a couple of youngsters- Surender Kumar of Delhi & Sumit of Ranchi Rays. Both look very good in defence. Some of our other youngsters haven't really had enough pitch time (Gurinder and Harjeet), but unfortunately, I don't see any quality forwards. Mandeep, Talwinder, Ramandeep and Akashdeep have trouble trapping cleanly and lose the ball too easily. Chandi has been very poor. Nikkin is still injured, but Sunil, Affan Yousseff, Lalit & Amir Khan have looked ok.

In midfield, Danish and Uthappa continue to baffle me. How do they keep getting selected?

Our best player so far has been Rupinder Pal. Brilliant in defence, passing really well and scoring lots of PCs. Let's hope he carries this form for the rest of the year. Harmanpreet too has looked pretty good, although he hasn't converted any of his PCs.
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Re: Hockey India League (HIL)

Post by sameerph »

Thanks, SSP for the comments. I am only able to watch few minutes of some of the games. Why have they kept all the matches at 6 pm this time ? It is too early for offce goers.

Nice to know about Rupinder Pal. While playing for India, in patches, he is very good only to falter at the other times. It is good if he has hit some form. It will solve some of our problems in defence.
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Re: Hockey India League (HIL)

Post by ssp »

Some encouraging news from this year's HIL.
Firstly, all the teams are competitive and secondly, there has been good crowd support in most matches. Surprisingly, JPW's home matches have seen the lowest attendance.
We are almost into the semis. RRs, JPW and KL are through and the last place will decided between DW & DM.

The most encouraging news is the performance of our players. I've grouped them as follows (please add any names that I have missed out):

Outstanding: Rupinder Pal, Harmanpreet, Sreejesh, Kothajit, Surender Kumar

Very good: Sardar, Sumit, Manpreet, Dharamvir, Affan Yousseff, Varun Kumar, Dipsan Tirkey

Good: Pardeep Mor, Gurjinder, Vikram Kanth, Gurjant, Vikas Sharma, Nilakanta Sharma, Roshan Minz, Amir Khan

OK: Sunil, Harjeet, Amit Rohidas, Diwakar Ram, Vikas Pillay, Chinglensana, Jasjit, Gurmail, Talwinder, Lalit, Imran Khan, Satbir, ArmanQureshi

Poor/awful: Raghunath, Ramandeep, Malak, Uthappa, Akashdeep, Danish, Chandi, Mandeep, Nithin, Yuvraj

Birendra and Devindar got injured early on and Nikkin hasn't played at all. Gurbaj has been kept out by the lunacy of HI. Slightly disappointed by Harjeet and Gurinder so far, but the latter has had very little pitch time. Ramandeep and Sunil have been trying very hard but keep making silly mistakes. Akashdeep has been woeful and I think Chandi's best days are behind him. Mandeep and Malak create nothing at all. Most of these guys only score of a deflection.

So, several of our senior squad are being out performed by the the U21s or players who have just been discarded for no good reason. We seem to have good depth in defence and midfield. Our forwards are still not great, but 5/6 out of Amir, Affan Yousseff, Gurjant, Nikkin, Sunil, Lalit and Ramandeep should go to Rio. We desperately need to drop: Akashdeep, Mandeep, Talwinder, Raghunath, Chinglensana and Danish. Jasjit hasn't looked as clumsy as usual.

I feel our players are getting closer to the best foreigners.
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Re: Hockey India League (HIL)

Post by arjun2761 »

Great summary!

With the caveat that I haven't watched any of the games, disappointed that Sunil isn't shining. In the last several years, he's been the only difference maker among our forwards for India when he is healthy with his speedy and somewhat controlled runs and crosses. If India is going to medal in Rio, he will need to be at his best....
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Re: Hockey India League (HIL)

Post by sameerph »

Thanks, SSP. It is encouraging to hear that Indians are now coming close to foreigners in terms of performance here. As I said earlier, I have not been able to watch much due to timing of the matches.

It is very interesting that you have placed youngsters Harmanpreet, Surender Kumar, Sumit, Varun Kumar and Dipsan Tirkey in the outstanding/ very good category. I have seen Harmanpreet play in a few matches and he looks very assured in defence. Have not seen other play. Are all from defense/ mid field ? Do they look fully ready to get into Indian team immediately ?
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Re: Hockey India League (HIL)

Post by ssp »

Yes, all the outstanding or very good categories are made up of defenders or midfielders. The only forwards are Affan, Gurjant and Amir. I've given up on Akashdeep, Mandeep and Yuvraj. They can't do the basics, let alone create anything or even press the opposition defenders effectively.
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Re: Hockey India League (HIL)

Post by sameerph »

This year's edition got concluded on Sunday with Jaypee Punjab Warriors winning the title.

This is the report from Hindu -

Impressive turnouts reflect tournament’s success

The list of promising players having done well pretty much matches with the one posted by our resident expert SSP few days back-
The biggest takeaway, however, would be the emergence of new talent in Indian hockey. This year threw up several names that could go on to don India colours in the near future. Ranchi Rays’ Sumit and Imran Khan, Surender Kumar and Parvinder Singh from Delhi Waveriders, Amit Rohidas, Dipsan Tirkey and Pardeep Mor of Kalinga Lancers, Dabang Mumbai’s Nilakanta Sharma and Gurjant Singh and Armaan Qureshi of Jaypee Punjab Warriors are some of the names that stood out.
Good to see such a wide array of talent doing well in this edition. I do not recall seeing this in the earlier editions.
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