From the beginning only, Emotions never got better of me. I've always
been the phlegmatic one. But that day was quite uneasy. It was an
early windy morning. I was standing on one end of the post in
Jawaharlal national hockey stadium. I have never been so nervous in my
life so far. I had a big finale coming up later in the morning. We
were up against an exorbitantly strong opponent. They cruised to final
without even conceding a single goal. Our overall record against them
was P4 W0 D0 L4.
Being a captain, I needed to motivate my boys instead I was shivering.
Then I saw my coach looking at me from the other end. He didn't say
anything. Just looked into my eyes for a while & he left the ground.
He didn't turn up even when the match got started when he was supposed
to be there at the touch line. Even in his absence, I felt his
support. I knew he trusted me with the squad. Those quiet eyes
conveyed a lot. I felt energetic like never before. I called an
instant team meet & explained everyone about how crucial the match
was. We were all fired up. The whistle blew. We played our hearts out.
Match ended at 2-2. Then we went down on the penalties.
We lost. Again. We did everything that we could. No stone was left
unturned. Still, I felt ashamed because I had let one man down.
I saw my coach coming up to me. I couldn't move. He hugged me & I
started crying, crying so hard that my teammates got worried thinking
I might have suffered an injury. Everyone was asking what had happened
except my coach. He didn't ask me anything.
Because, he knew.
