As Indian hockey embarks upon one of its most important assignments in recent times—FIH World Cup in Odisha (January 13 to 29)—all eyes will invariably be on one man, Harmanpreet Singh, 27. There are many reasons for this. Firstly, the fact that he has been handed the captaincy here from Tokyo Olympics bronze medal-winning skipper Manpreet Singh, 30. Secondly, Harmanpreet is the main drag-flicker of the team, and thirdly, the other drag-flickers, Amit Rohidas, Varun Kumar and Nilam Sanjeep Xess aren’t as talented or consistent as Harmanpreet.

Reid reads it right

Chief coach Graham Reid has made it amply clear that the team needs to support their skipper, most significantly in the penalty corner department. “I’d be lying if I say that there is not pressure on Harmanpreet. We have been spending a lot of time on our [penalty corner] variations to try and make sure that we can deflect some of the pressure from Harman,” Reid told PTI on the eve of India’s tournament-opener against Spain. World No.6 India are placed in Group D of the 16-team tournament, and have England (No.5) and Wales (No.15) besides Spain (No.8) for company.