India resume their FIH Pro League commitments with the European leg beginning in Antwerp, Belgium on May 22. Craig Fulton's men played eight games in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela in February, and despite mixed results, they were crucial games as they build up towards the Paris Olympics in July.
As it stands, India are third with 15 points from eight matches, 11 points behind the leaders Netherlands, who have played four matches more than India. However, as much as winning the Pro League will count as a big achievement for Fulton, the aim from these eight games - in which they will face Argentina, Belgium, Germany and Great Britain - will be to smoothen the rough edges before picking the final squad to head to Paris as India look to match or better their bronze medal winning effort from Tokyo in 2021.
Have lessons been learned from the Australia tour?
India lost all five matches in their tour to Australia in April, even as performances and their execution of Fulton's game-plan got better throughout the course of the series.
India did control parts of those games against the Aussies, their defence progressed positively as the series went on, when faced with the seemingly impossible task of keeping Australia from being their free-scoring selves. However, for Fulton's way of approaching games to succeed on the big occasions, the attack has to come to the party, particularly in counter-attacking situations. This isn't the high-pressing, gung-ho India that Graham Reid took to Tokyo. When defending with a half-court press and rather deep, creating turnovers and making swift, decisive actions on counter-attacks becomes even more important. It's something that none of the Indian forwards impressed with in Australia.
Mandeep Singh, as the senior-most player, will see a lot of this responsibility fall on his shoulders. He's consistently shown over the course of his career that his ability to create space for himself and make intelligent runs sets him apart from the others that India have in his position. Abhishek, Gurjant Singh, Lalit Upadhyay and Sukhjeet Singh are all experienced enough at international level now to be able to adapt to the demands of any style that the coach chooses to play, but consistency continues to elude them.
India are a penalty corner-heavy side, but like we saw in the 2023 World Cup in Odisha, there needs to be an alternative if Harmanpreet Singh's dragflicks suddenly stop finding the mark. Jugraj Singh is an excellent dragflicker too, but India's ability to create chances in open play will be the big test for them to pass in what could be their last set of competitive matches before the Olympics.
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Crunch decisions await Fulton
The Olympics squad can only consist of 18 members. India's squad for these eight Pro League games has 24 players in it. For Tokyo, India took only one goalkeeper. Can they do that this time? If they do, do they leave out Krishan Pathak or the veteran PR Sreejesh?
More pressing questions, though, come further up the field, in terms of choice of personnel. Youngsters Vishnukant Singh and Mohammed Raheel in midfield will look to potentially upset the applecart in what looks like the most settled part of India's squad. But exciting young forwards Araijeet Singh Hundal and Boby Singh Dhami perhaps are the best placed amongst the non-regulars in this squad to earn their place in the Olympics squad, if they can solve Fulton's biggest problem of creating and scoring goals in open play.
There are some other small boxes to be ticked as well.
A big decision needs to be made on Manpreet Singh. The veteran has deputized rather well in defence when called upon, but now is the time to make a final call on where he will best help India's cause in Paris. Whatever Fulton's choice is, it's imperative that Manpreet plays all these eight Pro League games in that particular position.
India always seem to be worse off on the pitch without Hardik Singh in midfield, as we have seen since the 2023 World Cup. Injuries are under no one's control, so will Fulton rotate aggressively in these eight games to see how his side solve problems on the field without their midfield general?
For now, it's just good that he's got eight games to tinker with things before making his final calls for Paris.
India squad
Indian men's squad for 2023-24 FIH Pro League (Europe leg)
Goalkeepers: PR Sreejesh, Krishan Pathak
Defenders: Harmanpreet Singh, Jarmanpreet Singh, Sumit, Jugraj Singh, Amit Rohidas, Sanjay
Midfielders: Hardik Singh, Manpreet Singh, Nilakanta Sharma, Shamsher Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Rajkumar Pal, Vishnukant Singh, Mohammed Raheel
Forwards: Mandeep Singh, Abhishek, Akashdeep Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Gurjant Singh, Sukhjeet Singh, Araijeet Singh Hundal, Boby Singh Dhami
Schedule of India's matches
In Antwerp, Belgium:
Vs Argentina, May 22, 6pm IST
Vs Belgium, May 24, 12:30am IST
Vs Belgium, May 25, 7:45pm IST
Vs Argentina, May 26, 10pm IST
In London, England:
Vs Germany, June 1, 2:30pm IST
Vs Great Britain, June 2, 4:45pm IST
Vs Germany, June 8, 9:45pm IST
Vs Great Britain, June 9, 7pm IST