It's always Harmanpreet Singh. The good, the bad, the ugly of Indian men's hockey, it all revolves around its captain. It was his ponderous defending that led to the shot which PR Sreejesh deflected into his own goal for India to go behind against Argentina. It was his powerful dragflick with less than two minutes to go that allowed India to escape with a point when their performance barely warranted it against an Argentina side who were plucky in defence and tenacious on the counter-attack.
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The larger picture in this group stage paints a safe picture for India. They are third in the group with four points from two games. If they beat Ireland tomorrow, they move on to seven and very likely guarantee themselves a quarterfinal spot. That is where the problems might begin. The lack of goals and over-reliance on Harmanpreet's dragflicks, will come back and bite them hard.
The skipper cut a positively bullish figure at the end of the game, saying he liked what he saw from his side in terms of their possession and structure. But that was probably - hopefully - the leader shielding his team from the brickbats after their worst performance in a while.
India will point to Tomas Santiago's two sensational saves from Abhishek's reverse hits or his three saves off Harmanpreet's dragflicks, but that was all India created. They were all moments of individual belligerence, rather than a product of structured, patterned attacking play.
Hardik stifled
There was none of that throughout the 60 minutes for India, as there often isn't when opponents mark Hardik Singh out of games. India's midfield metronome is such a crucial player. He's the most mobile, he's the most creative, he's the one with the ability to break a game open. Both New Zealand and Argentina figured it out in the opening two games and stifled him. They were happy to allow Manpreet Singh, Shamsher Singh and Vivek Sagar Prasad to have the ball. Not Hardik.
The lack of impact from Hardik means India are reduced to a side relying on moments, which often are Harmanpreet's dragflicks. Outside of them, India sometimes seemed amateurish in that game. The prime example of that was a Hardik free hit just after India had conceded, when he lofted the ball straight into the stick of the Argentine defender stood in front of him trying to block it. When the best passer in the team does that, then there's a ripple effect that surges right through the team, as it did for India over here.
The utter lack of urgency that prefaced the late Harmanpreet equaliser was rather concerning. At one point in the second half, with India trailing by a goal, central defenders Harmanpreet and Amit Rohidas exchanged seven straight passes between each other without an eye forward.
India had possession, Argentina had the play
That contributed to India having 55% possession in the game, but little else. Argentina had more shots in open play than India did, they also scored their goal from open play, although that was assisted by a generous helping hand from Sreejesh, who deflected a weak scuffed shot into his own net instead of pushing it out wide.
That Argentina had more shots in open play despite India having more circle penetrations magnifies the lack of attacking spark in Craig Fulton's tactical setup. That's why India are left searching for those Harmanpreet moments. This wasn't a team against whom they should've relied on that Harmanpreet moment right at the end. They fight hard, are well-organised and defend well, but India should really have had more than the paltry five shots they had in open play throughout the game.
In fact, Argentina should probably have been out of sight well before that Harmanpreet equaliser. They missed a penalty stroke, and also two big chances in open play in the third quarter - either of which could have condemned India to a disappointing defeat.
India need solutions in their next games
Ireland come calling tomorrow. Much like Argentina, they are well-organised in defence and will frustrate India as well. India need more solutions than just hoping Harmanpreet nails his dragflicks. If nothing else, India need a cohesive performance against Ireland just to build their own confidence before their two massive games to finish the group stage against Australia and Belgium.
India are currently playing like a disjointed team who haven't really seen each other before, let alone played with each other. Some of their elementary errors were bordering on comical. The missed traps, missed shots like Jarmanpreet Singh's air shot where he swung himself off his feet, or Harmanpreet's pass in midfield where he just played it to an Argentine forward who was barely even pressing him - India cannot afford those if they have hopes of winning a medal.
But at the end of the day, the bottomline in tournament hockey is to not lose at the very least. India continue to be reasonably difficult to break down in defence, even if they barely manage an attacking threat. As long as they manage to stay solid, they always have Harmanpreet's big frame standing on top of the D, waiting to place a dragflick into the net.
Can India dream? Yes, but only if they can make improvements in key areas over the next week.