In an exclusive interview with JioCinema, Harmanpreet Singh, Captain,  India men’s hockey team, spoke about the team’s performance, after the first two games – “The team is playing really well. We’re strong defensively, with or without the ball. With the ball, we’re creating a lot of chances and getting into the opponent’s circle. We can improve the outcome and the finishing in the upcoming games. We have a plan, we’re creating chances, but our finishing needs to better.”

Singh also shared his thoughts on the planned steps to improve the penalty conversion rate (The Indian team scored one out of ten penalty corners today) – We had our discussions with the coach on where to flick, and we were just following that. To be honest, if you look at the rushers today and during the match against New Zealand, and even our rushers, the first rushers are playing a very important role for every team. We need to devise a plan and strategy on how to beat them. Hopefully, in the next match, we will come with a better plan and finish well.”

Singh on scoring the equaliser and the discussions with the coach – “The coach tells us where to flick the ball for every penalty corner. They’re sitting outside and analysing the game, so we just follow the planning. But we fought and created chances until the last whistle. You definitely feel relieved when you score the equalizer, but the result wasn’t in our favour as we wanted to win the match.”

Singh on the approach in the next match against Ireland – “Our plan is to focus on one match at a time. Till now, we were focused on the Argentina match. Now, whatever time is left before tomorrow’s match, we will analyse Ireland’s game because they’re a great team as well. They have played well so far and we know that no team is easy to beat.”