The young Indian drag-flicker is excited about his new role as the captain and says that he wants to take the team forward.

By Achint Gupta

But the young Indian drag-flicker is excited about his new role. "I am looking at captaincy as a job to take the team forward and that is with the assistance of all the players irrespective of them being junior or senior," Sandeep told Sportscenter before leaving for Argentina.

The Punjab-lad's rise in the Indian team is a fairytale. After a near-death bullet accident doctors did not give Sandeep a whisk of a chance to play hockey. But the determined defender not only held the stick but has got the drag-flick accuracy better than before.

We don't need a foreign coach: Sandeep

Now he is expected to maneuver the team well in the field as a captain. "I believe in leading by example. I just want to score a lot of goals," says the chirpy captain.

But a young captain amongst the plethora of experience players can create trouble in the team spirit. That is where Sandeep will have to take cues from his cricket counterpart MS Dhoni.

"There is nothing about senior-junior. Everyone is a part of a family. Senior like Deepak, Dilip, Rajpal and Prabhjot have got experience of playing the European hockey and that will surely help us. Moreover, senior are quite co-operative."

Lot of experts believes that Indian team needs Sandeep the drag-flicker more than Sandeep the captain. "I don't think captaincy will have an impact on my drag-flicking. Even in Azlan Shah I spent 70 minutes on the field in most matches so I would be doing the same and cashing in on all the short-corner possibilities," said Sandeep.

The young captain has got the correct ideas but his big test would be in the implementation of them. Keeping the team close knit has always been a tough task in Indian hockey, and Sandeep would do well in learning from Dhoni about the man-management skills. It is a happy dressing room that can bring happiness for hockey fans of this country.