NEW DELHI: Despite back-to-back defeats in the FIH Pro League, captain Harmanpreet Singh expressed confidence that the Indian team can make a strong comeback.
Harmanpreet emphasised the importance of converting goal-scoring opportunities and maintaining a structured approach in the upcoming games in London.
India, initially the table toppers in the tournament, suffered a 1-2 loss to Olympic champions Belgium in their first match, followed by a 2-4 defeat against Great Britain, which caused them to slip to the second position in the Pro League standings.
In the upcoming matches, India will once again face Belgium on Friday, followed by a crucial encounter against table-toppers Great Britain on Saturday.
Great Britain currently sit atop the standings with 25 points from 10 matches, while India have accumulated 19 points from the same number of matches. The Indian team aims to bounce back and regain their winning form to strengthen their position in the tournament.
"We are not letting the two losses last week play on our minds. We still have six more matches to play and we know that if we play to the structure and execute good finishes, we will be able to return to the top of the pool table," Harmanpreet said ahead of the match against Belgium.
Despite the defeats, Harmanpreet said his team did have some takeaways from the two matches.
"Both opponents play very different styles. While one (Belgium) plays zonal, the other (GB) plays man-to-man. But there were some takeaways from those two matches," said Harmanpreet, who achieved the milestone of being the most prolific goal-scorer in the history of Pro League with 35 goals.
"Though we didn't create that many field goals, we did get some good PCs. There are some areas we also worked on, in these past few days and focus will continue to be on defending well," he added.
India vice-captain Hardik Singh also highlighted the efforts of newcomers in the squad.
"I think after the Rourkela matches, there was a bit of a gap to play highly competitive matches. It will take some time particularly for the youngsters to settle in and make the right connections to score goals.
"This is a big platform for youngsters like Sukhjeet, Karthi and even Abhishek who are playing in London for the first time and Sanjay also had a good debut.
"There are a lot of positives from the first two matches here which they will be working on to carry forward in the upcoming matches," said the young midfielder.
(With PTI inputs)
