This article first appeared in the The Scroll on June 18, 2024
For the Indian men’s field hockey team, one of the biggest obstacles in their way at any major international tournament in the 21st century is a strong Australian side. The Aussies just seem to have India’s number: no matter which players are on the green pitch, the result rarely defies the predictable. But in the first half of the last century, it was India that was the hockey giant, flicking away Australians at will. An excellent display of its dominance was in 1935, when a visiting team captained by the extraordinarily talented Dhyan Chand went Down Under.