New Delhi: With little room for mistakes, India will have to play out of their skin and forget the demons of the World Cup when they face world champions Australia in their next men's Pool A match here on Thursday.
Notwithstanding a 3-2 win in their tournament opener against a spirited but lowly Malaysia on Tuesday night, the Indians were far from impressive as they had to come from behind twice in the match to register the hard-earned victory.
But against Australia the Rajpal Singh-led side cannot afford to breath easy, as under hockey legend and former captain Ric Charlesworth's guidance the Kookaburras have been invincible.
The Aussies having won every major international tournament since January 2009, including the World Cup in Delhi earlier this year and subsequently the Champions Trophy in Germany.
Australia are, expectedly, the firm favourites to defend their crown in the Delhi Games, having claimed the gold medal in every edition of the quadrennial event since hockey's introduction in the 1998 Kuala Lumpur Games.
The major concern which remains before India's chief coach Jose Brasa is the backline as it looked scaratchy against the Malaysians.
The nimble-footed Malaysians caught the Indian defence napping on plenty of occasions on Tuesday out of which two effors resulted in goals.
But against mighty Australia, the Indian defenders will have to dish out their best hockey as even a small mistake can cost them dearly.
Brasa too conceded that defence continued to remain a problem for his side and against Australia the Dhananjay Mahadik-led backline will have to be on their toes.
"It was a difficult match against Malaysia, but I am happy that we pocketed full three points.
"But against Australia it will be more difficult. They are the top team in the world and we will have to defend well.
We will have to change a few things. We have to plug those holes in defence," Brasa said.
India captain Rajpal Singh also agreed with his coach and said his team will try to commit fewer mistakes against their formidable rivals.
"We will try not to repeat the mistakes we committed against Australia in the World Cup," he said.
Sandeep has already opened his goal tally in the Delhi Games, converting one out of the three set pieces he had taken on Tuesday, and against Australia would be eager to do justice to his reputation.
Australia, on the other hand, will be relying more on their experienced players Jamie Dwyer and Liam de Young, taking part in their third Commonwealth Games, and the trio of Luke Doerner, Robert Hammond and Mark Knowles who were part of the World Cup-winning squad, to deliver the goods after having fielded 11 debutants in the squad.
In Charlesworth, Australia have a shrewd tactician who has a fair idea about Indian players after having served Indian hockey for ninth months in 2008 as consultant.
Although the Aussies are outright favourites for their fifth Commonwealth Games gold, Charlesworth sounded cautious and said his team cannot afford to take any rival lightly in the Delhi Games.
"We have had some great results over the past 20 months or so. However I still believe we are not solid yet and still have much to do. I have full confidence in the team we have selected as it has a good amount of experience and youth, however we will not get ahead of ourselves," he said.
"England are very capable of beating us as we saw at the World Cup. India and Pakistan will be at home in the heat of Delhi and the reduced squad size makes things less predictable," he explained.
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