India vs Pakistan: A rivalry hoping for a revival

India and Pakistan will renew their rivalry exactly a year since their last clash at the Asian Games, the only glitch being that the rivalry now only exists in the name.

Gone are those days of unparalleled rivalry which would make the contest a high-voltage and much-anticipated clash which would force umpires to bring out multiple cards and make every fan watch the game on their feet.

But of late, India’s rise and the simultaneous decline of Pakistan has made the rivalry extremely lopsided. It’s been nine years since Pakistan beat India. Since their win at the 2016 South Asian Games final, 14 games have gone in favour of India, two were draws and one washout.

“It is a different scenario now. There is a huge difference between the two teams. India is playing on a different level with back-to-back Olympic bronze medals,” says 1994 World Cup-winner Tahir Zaman, who joined the Pakistan team as head coach just a day before the Asian Champions Trophy started on Sunday.

“In the last 10-12 years, India have consistently worked with foreign professionals, whether it is strength and conditioning trainers, video analysts, coaches, high performance directors for all teams — men, women or juniors.”

Lack of sponsors leading to a serious crunch in funds along with mismanagement at an administrative level in Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has led Pakistan to miss the last three Olympic Games and two of the last three World Cups, where they are still the most successful team.

Coaches have left abruptly due to non-payment of salaries with Roelant Oltmans being the latest, who decided to not travel to China for the six-team tournament that is being broadcast on Sony Network.

Pakistan hockey saw its worst phase when the previous government decided to do away with departmental hockey at the domestic level and replace it with club hockey. As a result, there were no inter-departmental tournaments with players losing their jobs.

“A lot of players lost employment then. There were no domestic games for a year-and-a-half which stagnated Pakistan hockey,” Pakistan captain Ammad Butt said over a video call from Hulunbuir City.

“They are starting departmental hockey once again. Now, thankfully at least all players in the national team have jobs. I don’t think a club system, which is there in Europe, can work in India or Pakistan.”

While there were just 6-7 domestic tournaments that took place in Pakistan last year, Indian men took part in 21 domestic tournaments in the last calendar year alone. Domestic women played 10 while there were many more national level events at the junior and sub-junior levels for both genders.

While India men took part in seven tournaments in 2023, including the nine-month long Pro League playing against the world’s best teams, Pakistan played just two – Asian Champions Trophy and Asian Games.

Also, unlike the Indian team which easily spends more than 300 days in the national camp training under world-class coaches and infrastructure, the Pakistan team congregates only a couple of months before a tournament, spending the rest of the year with their local clubs.

“In present scenario, there are not enough domestic competitions. Demolishing the department teams was not a very wise decision. Now, the government is very keen and PHF is trying their best to activate departmental and regional hockey again through which we can address the welfare of players too,” adds Olympic bronze medallist Zaman.

“Without proper infrastructure and national-level high-performance centres where you can educate basic coaching fundamentals and build physical, technical, tactical, psychological and social development, it is not going to be easy.”

Despite the imbalance, 28-year-old Butt is keen to give a tough fight to India, hoping to turn the tables on the defending champions. “It will be an interesting match. India are overwhelming favourites. Their fitness is very good with a solid defence and midfield. Their main strength is drag-flicker Harmanpreet Singh. But if we can put them under pressure, we can give them a hard time,” said Butt.