Since February, the Indian men's hockey team has played 15 international matches. They have won only three of these 15 in regular time. Out of the three, two wins came against Ireland in the home Pro League matches.
While not everything is about results, considering the current phase is all about preparing for the Olympics, it's still jarring to see India struggle for outright wins.
On Thursday, India faced Olympic champions Belgium, who were short on form and confidence coming into the match after a loss to Ireland. This was the perfect opportunity for Craig Fulton's team - the coach has a good idea about Belgium due to his past association - to secure an elusive win. Instead, India succumbed in a familiar manner, losing 4-1 in Antwerp.
Where India failed
Before the India match, Belgium had won just once in five Pro League matches. A day earlier, they had lost to a team at the bottom of the table. Clearly, Belgium were not having the best of times on the field.
Even though a few key players were missing in this leg of Pro League, notably Tom Boon and Arthur van Doren, this was still a formidable team with the likes of Alexander Hendrickx, Felix Denayer and Tanguy Cosyns bolstering the attack. Despite this, they were struggling to come out with positive results.
India's gameplan should've taken Belgium's form into account. They needed to get off the blocks quickly and tried to score the first goal, putting their opponents under the pump right from the pushback. But the opening quarter belonged to Belgium, who dominated the proceedings after India sat too deep in their own half.
But even after allowing Belgium to play their game, they couldn't score in the opening quarter. Cosyns went close when he smashed the post with a fierce hit and there were a couple of sublime passes to the Indian circle but not enough to beat PR Sreejesh.
India started the second quarter better, there was an increase in their intensity levels and in fact they tested goalkeeper Loic Van Doren with three back-to-back shots. Harmanpreet Singh's initial penalty corner was saved, followed by blocked rebound efforts from Sukhjeet Singh and Abhishek.
Unlike in the first quarter, Belgium players were making mistakes. They were not able to keep the ball and there were plenty of gaps in the midfield. This was the opportunity for India to press more for the goals but instead they ended up conceding. Denayer converted from close range, a lovely flick to give his team the lead, and all the enthusiasm fizzled out.
Even in the final two quarters, Belgium were guilty of making errors, but India's attacking play, lacklustre for a while now, showed again on Thursday. The second goal came from a Hendrickx penalty corner and the third was a piece of beauty after Denayer's magical pass from one end to another which was finished by Cedric Charlier.
Although Abhishek pulled one back for India with a reverse hit from top of the circle in the fourth quarter, it was not enough to put any fear among the Belgians. Hendrickx added one more to his tally from a penalty stroke and that was that.
For Fulton and the Indian players, the biggest regret should be how they failed to capitalise against an underperforming Belgian side. Belgium were indeed not at their best, but instead of piling more misery, India ensured they got their winning momentum back.
Now, India need to quickly find their form back and ensure a few wins before they go to Paris for the ultimate competition. Good news is there are still matches left for India to find their mojo.
Upcoming matches:
There's a one-day break before they face the Belgians again on the 25th and Argentina on the 26th. In June, they travel to London to finish the rest of the Pro League matches against Great Britain and Germany.