Pakistan will have to face the travails of half of the Sahara Champions Trophy hockey without ace midfielder Mohammad Saqlain in a tournament that is reckoned as the toughest in the game's annual calendar.
The captain has been fined and suspended for three matches by the judicial committee of the International Hockey Federation on the charge of hitting Australia's Craig Victory at the four-nation Hamburg Masters.
It is surprising why the FIH panel took about four months to hand over their verdict of penalising the player, who was to lead his side.
The hockey experts can only express their reservations since all the members forming the judicial committee were Australians and no other decision could have come from the shoal.
As Pakistan comes to grips today with the other five heavyweights participating in this significant contest at Chennai the country will be considerably handicapped. It is possible that the hockey federation officialdom may appeal to the International Olympic Committee's Arbitration Commission for a review or reversal of the suspension and fine imposed on Saqlain and in this way the player may get a lease of life for some weeks before the IOC takes up the matter and has its own assessment of the complaint.
During mid-year Pakistan's entry into the final of the Azlan Shah International hockey had been baulked by a vigorous and nifty Malaysian squad at Kuala Lumpur, though later on they had girded up their loins to obliterate skepticism and had ascended the podium with a bronze medal below Australia, the winners, and South Korea. The playoff for the third placement against New Zealand was fast-paced yet Pakistan had more sharpness and vibrancy to gain victory.
If Pakistan were desultory and scrappy in the Hamburg Masters, they struck the purple patch in the Rabobank Trophy in Amsterdam a few weeks later in August. In the final against Olympic champions, Australia, the challengers, Pakistan had been dismissed as 'Also-rans' yet it was an astonishing recovery from a deficit of 2-3 at the lemon-time. Bridging the gap was a Himalayan task.
Pakistan, however, controlled the tone and tenor of the second session and brought down the sleeveless yellow-shirted Australians to the surprise of the onlookers. It was a melodramatic outcome but taking the display of the Pakistanis in totality and their fortitude they deservingly created history.
In Chennai Australia again may be taken as odds-on favourite. The defending champions, Spain, are day by day improving and have commendable speed and confidence. Their chances too cannot be belittled.
One hopes that the world champions, Germany, are taking the Champions Trophy seriously and are fielding a full-strength side. In that case they will be among the contenders for the trophy.
India have the advantage of their venue and setting and should put up a better performance than at Amsterdam where they finished just above the eighth-placed England. There are chinks aplenty in their armour yet the environment and crowd support may help them.
Pakistan have to exhibit an exhilarating and convincing game at the south Indian town if the team is to lake a place at the victory stand. The training had been rigorous enough and they may yet surprise India and the exponents of the occidental system.
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