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First, it was against Belgium. Indian forward Abhishek stole the ball high up the pitch after a defender’s miscontrol, ran into the box, steadied himself to find some space with his back facing the goal, and unleashed a shot. It was so powerful that a goalkeeper as good as Vincent Vanasch didn’t see it go past him.
Then, it was against Australia. After Lalit Upadhyay’s shot was parried by Andrew Charter into Abhishek’s path. The 24-year-old from Sonepat once again had his back towards the Australian goal, before unleashing a shot on the half-turn. Charter too was beaten, low to his right this time and from a tight angle. It was the opening goal of a famous win for the Indian men’s hockey team as they went on to beat Australia for the first time at the Olympic Games since 1972.
And it was a reward not just for Abhishek’s endeavours, but also India’s planning for Paris 2024.
A long-awaited win against Australia! 💪🏼🫡
Our boys delivered one of their best attacking performances of the tournament.
After 52 years, we finally triumphed over Australia at the Olympics! This five-goal thriller was worth the wait. Harmanpreet Singh and Abhishek’s goals,… pic.twitter.com/J1oTHuI8t2
— Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) August 2, 2024
Earlier this year, Craig Fulton had identified one key area where the Indian forwards could improve. After the Pro League leg in India, where India had the chance to play top teams like the Netherlands and Australia, it was evident that they needed more attacking contributions from their forwards. Harmanpreet Singh is great at what he does, scoring consistently from penalty corner situations. But Fulton said outcomes inside the circle had to improve, and for that, Indian strikers must get into the habit of taking shots on the turn while having their back to the the opponents’ goal.
“A lot of the time Indian players like to face the goal to score goals while a lot of the Europeans don’t face the goal to take shots. They have their back towards the goal and they’re hitting through the defender. It’s very difficult to defend,” the 49-year-old had told The Indian Express in March.
“We are trying to obviously improve both sides of this, where you can still be able to get in the ‘D’ and get your shot away. Or you connect with another striker, not with a shot but with a pass. The closer you get to the goal the less time you have to score. So you’re not necessarily looking for a big backswing, a big hit. It’s all flicking and pushing. And double movements like 1v1 against the goalkeeper. The kind of moves where your back is towards the goal, but you’re still able to twist and turn to try and find the target. This takes time.”
The last time the Indian Hockey team beat Australia at the Olympics was 5️⃣2️⃣ years ago! 🤯
Catch all the action from #Paris2024 on #Sports18, plus stream for FREE on #JioCinema! 👈#OlympicsOnJioCinema #OlympicsOnSports18 #JioCinemaSports #Cheer4Bharat #Hockey #Olympics pic.twitter.com/ZAzc6gJh6c
— JioCinema (@JioCinema) August 2, 2024
Abhishek has delivered just what Fulton was hoping for. India still perhaps don’t score enough field goals, and Harmanpreet is once again shouldering the burden for finding the net predominantly, but against two top quality opponents like Belgium and Australia, Abhishek has come to the party.
“We all believe that Abhishek is one of the best players in our team and is very talented. Whenever you score, your confidence goes up. I said this after the Belgium match as well that it’s a good sign he’s scoring and helping the team lead,” Harmanpreet told JioCinema after the win against Australia.
Abhishek was at the heart of his side’s Asian Games gold medal-winning campaign as well, scoring the critical goal late on against Korea in the semifinal to give India a 5-3 lead. Speaking to this daily after returning from Hangzhou, he had said that was “abhi tak poora career ka sabse favourite goal.” When he returns from Paris, there might be two new contenders for that spot.
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