Indian stand in captain, P Sreejesh said that the upcoming Champions Trophy in England will be a test of mental strength. The Champions Trophy tournament will be a six nation tournament including England, Belguim, Australia, Germany, South Korea and India.
The Indian team will be leaving for the Champions Trophy tournament on Sunday. “We are getting back-to-back matches in London and Spain and that’s how the schedule will be like in Rio Olympics also.
This will be a mental test for us as we play world’s top four teams in London and we play the five teams we will face in Rio at the Six Nations Tournament. It will come down to how we succeed in executing the plans we have been working on at the training camp,” Sreejesh said.
“Almost a month before the London Olympics, we were in Europe playing matches and directly went for the Olympics. This time, some of the senior players spoke to coach Roelant (Oltmans) after the New Zealand Tour and told him that we wanted to do things differently.
“We felt that being away for so long, playing 13-15 high intensity matches just before the Olympics made us exhausted mentally. But this time we will be fresh as we return early July, and we get a week’s break before we rejoin the final national camp.
The feeling of leaving from Delhi to the play the biggest event of our lives, with one billion people’s wishes backing us will certainly boost our confidence and this works well psychologically for the team,” he said.
“As a youngster, playing against teams like Australia can add extra pressure. My aim as a captain will be to keep them high-spirited and bring them to that level. Right from the highest capped player for the team to the junior most in the team we all have responsibilities to fulfill and our realistic expectation will be to play consistently throughout the Champions Trophy,” he said.
In this tournament, Sardar Singh has been rested and drag flicker Rupinder Pal Singh is being rested to keep them fresh for Rio Olympics. This champion’s trophy gives them a chance to play well in the tournament and also improve in certain areas which has bothered in the past.
The youngsters must grab the chance and be in the squad for Rio Olympics. P Sreejesh was rested in the Azlan Shah tournament.
Indian team will play against four of top teams in the world and they need to be at their best to defeat these teams.
India will take on Germany in their opening match on 10th June.