Harmanpreet in good spirits at the national-team camp.
| Photo Credit: K. Murali Kumar
An India-Pakistan clash in any sport evokes heightened passion. For the players, the marquee match is all about keeping emotions in check while focusing on the task at hand.
Their resolve will be tested once again at the FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup where the arch-rivals will face each other in a Pool D game on August 19. India has held the wood over Pakistan, thanks to the twin victories in the FIH Pro League last month.
India skipper Harmanpreet Singh felt that the fixture will be “intense”, but called on his men to keep it strictly business. “There will be a lot of drama. We are excited to be in the same pool, and to play on such a big platform. But everyone knows their responsibilities and priorities. We have to focus on the match and play. We have to be mentally calm and focus on our task,” Harmanpreet told The Hindu on the last day of the camp at SAI here on Thursday.
The 30-year-old is confident that India will break the World Cup jinx and clinch a medal at the global tournament for the first time since 1975. “At Tokyo 2020, we won an Olympic medal after 41 years. This time, our target is to win the World Cup,” he said.
Speaking about the much-debated move to replace the iconic blue national-team jersey with a saffron one, the captain said: “We just played a training match with the orange jersey. I think that the new jersey looks good.”
Published – July 30, 2026 07:13 pm IST
