On the opening day of the World Cup, as the Indian team romped past Pakistan, it looked like sparks would fly again; but like most old romances, this one too proved to be nothing but a one-night stand.

Eventually, India’s dream of sneaking into the semifinals, riding on permutations and combinations, went up in smoke late on Saturday evening. The truth, however, is that the hosts’ campaign got derailed on the first night itself.

Even as the team was celebrating a famous victory over Pakistan, came the crushing news: its star player Shivendra Singh had been banned for three games. It was later reduced to two but there were no doubt about the intent behind the ban.

India, which anyway don’t boast of much bench-strength, were left to contend with two tough games with one player less. That is like playing a Test match with 10 players, or indeed without your strike bowler. Not surprisingly, they were steamrolled by Australia and outsmarted by Spain.

By the time, Shivendra came back, it was too late. Ironically, India went down 0-3 against England too; by the time, they recovered their wits and game, the moment had already passed. They will now have to win their last league fixture against South Africa to stay in line for the crucial fifth place.

There is no doubt that India is still the incomplete thing: they had as many as six players without any exposure to this level; as a unit too, thanks to the shenanigans of IOA and its power-hungry officials, they didn’t play enough matches that would have helped identify their weaknesses.

All of them, sadly, panned out in front of packed and enthusiastic crowds: more than anything else, almost all the players showed that, in the maze called Indian hockey, they have forgotten the very basics of the game. Coach Jose Brasa, in a moment of helplessness, even declared that they were childish mistakes.

India left so many gaps in the field that even an aeroplane could have sailed through; soft balls, atrocious trapping, mindless passing and the worst of all, pointless dribbling, you name it and our players dished them all out. One doesn’t even need to talk about tactics here, either while attacking or defending.

Actually, it is high time, all of us stopped talking about our skills with the stick; the fact is our players just end up running in circles, eventually losing the ball too. All the others, right from the Australians to the Spaniards, are much adept at dodging the players with their stickwork. That too at high speeds.

Till now, there was the impression that Indian teams lose steam and become vulnerable towards the end; Ric Charlesworth, who knows a thing or two about India, exposed another frailty: lack of direction right at the start. Australia smashed in two goals in less than seven minutes. It was huff-and-puff all the way after that.

Funnily, even though, India were one man short on the bench (against Australia and Spain), on the field, it always looked like they were playing with just eight or nine players. Forget about Sandeep Singh’s susceptibility in the back, more often than not it seemed that there were only one or two players to defend while the opposition was on the move; similarly, forget about Deepak Thakur’s ineffectiveness upfront, it appeared that India was attacking with only one or two strikers.

The good news is that the crowd seemed to enjoy every moment that spent at the Dhyan Chand Stadium; they may not yet be in love again but, quite clearly, their hearts are fluttering again.