Harmanpreet Singh scores, India wins. But what happens when he doesn’t?

Harmanpreet had a wry smile when the question was put forward to him. It’s a query he has faced countless times in his long career and one he was probably half-expecting after India’s 3-1 World Cup victory over Wales here on Saturday.

The Indian skipper once again showed why he is among the world’s greatest when it comes to dragflicks, scoring twice and taking his goal tally to 254. All three of India’s goals came from short corners, with Sanjay Rana also netting one from the area.

Is there an over-reliance on penalty corners? What about the field goals?

Harmanpreet was quick to defend his forwards although the link-up between Mandeep Singh, Abhishek Nain and Sukhjeet Singh lacked the final pass, control or finishing touch in the clash against Wales.

“They are playing well. They are creating so many chances in the D, so it doesn’t matter if we are scoring a field goal or creating a PC. At the end of the day, we are getting goals, that’s more important,” said the 30-year-old.

In recent years, India has relied on its prowess from short corners, particularly from the stick of Harmanpreet. After all, of his 254 goals, a whopping 217 (85.43%) have come from PCs. India wins 69% of the matches when Harmanpreet scores.

When his penalty-corner conversion form dipped in his stop-start Pro League campaign, India struggled woefully in front of goal to finish eighth in the standings. In the 10 games he featured, the team converted just nine of its 43 PCs with Harmanpreet managing a lowly two. The overall picture across 16 games highlighted India’s poor PC conversion and its struggles from open play, which led to a sub-par number of short corners earned.

Of its 63 PCs, 24 came in the two matches against last-placed Pakistan. In 14 games against the top-seven teams, several of whom will be strong contenders at the World Cup, India converted just eight of the 39 short corners.

While India scored more field goals (16) than PC goals (13) in the Pro League, it should be noted that six of them came against Pakistan. Harmanpreet doesn’t want to look back on India’s struggles and maintains that the objective is clear. “We are not going to overthink things. We know our values and targets. We are here for the World Cup, we are going to win this,” he said.