 "Asia Cup Hockey: Goal fest vs Kazakhstan masks India’s forward worries as they gear up for tricky Super 4s")
Forty-five circle penetrations later on Monday, which saw the Kazakhstan post bombarded with 29 shots from Indian sticks – 15 of which went in , the Men’s Hockey Asia Cup reached the point where the top teams have been sieved from the rest and we have the ‘Super 4’: India and China from Pool A, Korea and Malaysia from Pool B.
The biggest worry, perhaps, for a coach in consequential and lopsided games – like India’s last pool match against the Kazakhs, is that the team comes out unscathed in terms of picking up any injuries. Such games are also about perfecting those moments where you need to take crucial decisions, and connect and coordinate well to be in a better mind-space for bigger battles.
Little sweet moments like the young Rajinder Singh getting his first international goal give the much-needed context to such games where you see three players – Abhishek (4 goals), Jugraj Singh (3) and Sukhjeet Singh (3) – scoring hat-tricks.
India endured two tough matches – tested by the Chinese before winning 4-3 and given a scare by Japan in a 3-2 victory. The added challenger in those games was playing under the punishing Rajgir sun instead of the lights.
Captain and drag-flicker Harmanpreet Singh scored five of the seven goals India needed to beat China and Japan, where a lot of field-goal chances were squandered. Fulton would hope that the shooting practice against Kazakhstan not just gave some confidence to the strikers but also gave them the understanding of where they were getting it wrong.
“The big thing was to get through the first two games because the result is everything. You can play really, really well but if you are not in a good place coming into the Super 4s, then it’s the opposite of what you want,” India coach Craig Fulton told Firstpost.
“So now from the two games, which were difficult, the guys have a better feel about it.”
𝐖𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐲𝐥𝐞! 😎
— Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) September 1, 2025
🎥 Watch the best of India's 15-0 win over Kazakhstan at the Hero Asia Cup Rajgir, Bihar 2025.#HockeyIndia #IndiaKaGame #HumSeHaiHockey #HeroAsiaCupRajgir | @asia_hockey @BSSABihar pic.twitter.com/hPSO9VFHA4
India will first take on Korea on Wednesday, but Fulton said the focus will be on recovering rest day (Tuesday) before we sit down to study our ‘Super 4’ opponents.
“First recover, get the guys back, eat well, sleep well and then we have a good look at Korea. I haven’t looked much into what’s going on in Pool B,” the coach added.
Fights over, battles begin
The ‘Super 4’ teams will also feel relaxed about the tournament schedule in the business end, where they get spared from the 1 pm and 3 pm starts, when the heat and humidity at the Rajgir Sports Complex peak.
Teams had to resort to innovative measures like shortened warm-up time and quicker changeovers besides keeping the vitamin and mineral intake high to avoid cramps. On that note, Malaysia can be considered the most comfortable team when it comes to getting used to humidity here, which is similar to what they get back home.
“The humidity is huge. The only team who has an advantage here is Malaysia,” said former India coach Roelant Oltmans, who is now part of China’s coaching staff under fellow Dutchman Michel van den Heuvel.
The 22nd-ranked China achieved their first objective of reaching the ‘Super 4’, with the 13-1 hammering of Kazakhstan helping them edge Japan on goal difference after they held the former Asian Games champions to a hard-fought 2-2 draw in their last pool game.
“If you look at the world rankings, nobody expected China to be in the Super 4. The only aim we had from the first three matches was to be in Super 4. Now a new tournament is starting,” said Oltmans.
Talking about numbers, the most significant column in the standings is goals-against, which shows Malaysia as the best team, having conceded just two goals, while India and Korea let in five each and China seven.
On that note, India’s defence did better against Japan than the first game against China, which also included jitters of opening a tournament. It also put the scanner on India’s goalkeepers, which has been a talking point since the retirement of PR Sreejesh.
Among Krishan Pathak and Suraj Karkera, the latter is performing more consistently while the former has been feeling the heat, especially after all three goals China scored came when he was guarding the post.
‘A lot depends on our forwards’
India’s vice-captain Hardik Singh wore the cap of an analyst while dissecting India’s performance so far, especially how China has started testing the Tokyo and Paris Olympics bronze medalists.
“I think China has benefitted by bringing in quality coaches. Their women’s team has already proved what they can do by winning the silver medal at the Paris Olympics,” said Hardik while talking to Firstpost.
The attacking midfielder provided more context to India’s battles in the ‘Super 4’ by rolling the clock back to the final of the last two Asian Champions Trophy editions – against Malaysia in 2023 and against China last year.
“If you remember, in the ACT final in Chennai, we were two goals down (1-3 at half-time versus Malaysia). Then in the ACT final in China, we won just 1-0. All that is in our mind,” said Hardik. “In Asia we are always considered gold medal contenders. That’s a mindset. But if you see, in the last 15 years we have won the Asian Games gold only twice (2014 and 2023).”
Based on the pool-stage form and results, Malaysia appear to be India’s primary challengers as the only other unbeaten team in the tournament besides the hosts, which includes their 4-1 win over defending champions Korea. But China have appeared wily, benefitting from their think-tank in the dugout – led by master tactician van den Heuvel. And the dogged Koreans are always in the mix in Asia.
India’s recipe to win relies heavily on creating penalty corners and bringing Harmanpreet into play, who is far ahead of any other drag-flicker in the competition. And Hardik hit the nail on the head.
“Our game will depend a lot on the execution of our forwards.”
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