Coach Jose Brasa feels the bilateral test series with Pakistan will be good for Indian hockey.

By Adarsh Vinay

Hockey India and Pakistan Hockey Federation on Thursday announced their plan to conduct an annual bilateral series between the two countries. The series will be for both men and women and will be played by the senior and junior national teams on a home and away basis.

India coach Jose Brasa believes the series is a good initiative and that it will provide much needed experience for the national side. "We need to play more matches. That has been our problem. More matches will mean more experience. Only then can we improve," he said.

In the ongoing World Cup in New Delhi, Pakistan finished bottom among the twelve teams. When asked if playing against such a side would help India improve, Brasa said that the first priority was to play matches no matter who the opposition.

"The most important thing for the Indian team is to play matches. I said before the World Cup that India had played less matches than most of the other teams. Had we played some matches, we would have performed better. So the most important thing is to play, regardless of the quality of the opponents," said the Spaniard.

With the topic on Pakistan's poor showing in the championship, Brasa said it had a lot to do with the defeat to India in the opening tie. "Losing to India must have been a mental blow. The India-Pakistan match was hyped up. The media gave it too much importance. Losing that match affected them the way it would have affected us had we lost."

He added that Pakistan's performance in the tournament was a series of highs and lows. "They lost their opener to us but after that they beat Spain. Then again they lost two matches but played very well against Australia. And then they went and lost to Canada."

"They lacked consistency. That is proof of how badly they also need to play more. The bilateral series will help both sides," concluded Brasa.