Hockey World Cup: 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 perhaps half-expecting after India’s 3-1 victory over Wales to kickstart its World Cup campaign here on Saturday.

Updated : Aug 16, 2026 14:17 IST , Amstelveen - 4 MINS READ

In recent years, India’s goal-scoring has relied on its prowess from short corners, particularly from the stick of Harmanpreet Singh.  | Photo Credit: Hockey India

Harmanpreet Singh 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 perhaps half-expecting after India’s 3-1 victory over Wales to kickstart its World Cup campaign here on Saturday.

The Indian skipper had displayed why he is among the world’s greatest when it comes to dragflicks, scoring twice, taking his career goal tally to 254. All three of India’s goals were from short corners with Sanjay Rana adding one from the area.

“So, is there an over-reliance on Penalty Corners? What of the field goals? Is there a concern?”

In the win over Wales, forwards Mandeep Singh, Abhishek Nain and Sukhjeet Singh were all instrumental in India earning PCs which were converted. The link-up between the trio was, at times, fluid and intricate, but lacked the final pass or control or finish.

Harmanpreet, though, was quick to defend his forwards. “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.

But there is certainly some merit behind this thought. In recent years, India’s goal-scoring 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. His skills from dragflicks were instrumental in India’s two Olympic podium finishes. India wins 69% of the matches Harmanpreet scores in.

So what does India do if its best source of goals has an off-day or an off-tournament?

When his form from short corners didn’t endure in his stop-start Pro League campaign, India woefully struggled in front of goal to finish eighth in the standings. In the 10 matches he featured, India converted just nine of its 43 PCs with Harmanpreet managing just a lowly two. It’s rather poor from his standards.

The overall picture across 16 games also highlighted India’s poor PC conversion and its struggles from open play, which led to a sub-par number of short corners earned. Only Germany (61) and Pakistan (59) registered fewer PCs than India in the nine-team tournament.

Of its 63 PCs in the Pro League, 24 of them came in the two games against last-placed Pakistan, where India converted five. Against the top seven teams, several of them who will be strong contenders for the World Cup, India converted eight of the 39 short corners in 14 matches. The rate of PCs earned per game in those games doesn’t make for optimistic reading which is just 2.78.

While India did manage more field goals (16) than PC goals (13) in the Pro League, six of them came against Pakistan. Its 10 field goals against the other teams came at a rate of 0.62 per game, adding further scrutiny on Indian forwards. Belgium’s 31 field goals was the best in the division, coming at a rate of 1.93. The Red Lions’ forward Tom Boon’s 10 strikes from open play are as many as India’s haul against the top seven teams.

India possesses skillful attackers with the likes of Mandeep, Abhishek, Sukhjeet, Shilanand Lakra and Dilpreet Singh, but for it to match-up against the elite teams, their flair will need to culminate in better chance-creation and more importantly, goals. In the last three major competitions since the 2024-25 Pro League, Abhishek has the most field goals (14) with Sukhjeet (12), Dilpreet (9) and Mandeep (6) trailing him.

Harmanpreet doesn’t want to look back on India’s past 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 added.

But while chasing that goal, India will come up against better defensive teams in the tournament, starting with England on Monday. The World Cup contenders, as they did in the last few months, will make it tough for India from both open play and set-pieces. Will the Indian team find the right answers?

Published on Aug 16, 2026

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