Harmanpreet Singh believes there is something in it. Something in the way they pulled off the heist of hockey at these Games. Something in the way they rallied together against Great Britain. Something in the way that victory against adversity felt.

“Yes, the kind of situation that happened in the match and we still managed to win, I think something is there,” the India skipper said when asked if a win like that made him believe in destiny. “We are just two steps (away).”

The first step, towards improving the colour of the Tokyo Olympics medal and gunning for the ultimate golden prize, will be taken on Tuesday in the semi-finals against Germany, the team they beat 5-4 for the bronze medal three years ago.

That doesn’t matter now. Nor does the shootout victory against Great Britain on Sunday after which emotions ran high. The race is still on, those last couple of hard strides still to be taken.

That they’re very much in it to do that shows how far the 2021 bronze medallists have progressed over the course of this campaign, in which both the Tokyo gold medallists (Belgium) and silver medallists (Australia) were knocked out in the last eight. India dug in and came out stronger, with 10 fighting men on the park for nearly three quarters of the game.

They will have to do with one less man in the squad against Germany too, with Amit Rohidas suspended for one match by the FIH technical delegate for his red card against Great Britain. It was appealed and upheld by the FIH jury on Monday.

That will be another big test of the players’ mental resilience, which Paddy Upton, the team’s mental conditioning coach who planned an adventure trip up in the Swiss Alps coming into the Games, has seen enough of.

“We’ve worked hard on it, but it was only ever going to be revealed when the rubber hit the road. If ever it was going to get tested, I hoped it would come through. Now we’ve seen they have resilience,” said Upton.

Germany, champions of the World Cup held in India last year and ranked world No.2, will also come in with momentum. A 3-2 quarter-final win against Argentina scoring a late goal underlined their toughness. The Pool A toppers have scored more goals than India — they beat hosts France 8-2 — a greater volume of field goals and have dashing drag-flicker Gonzalo Peillat in their armoury. India’s penalty corner defence will again have to stand tall in the absence of their primary first rusher Rohidas, like they did against Great Britain.

“An hour ago, we were up against it. And now, we are talking about the semi-final,” head coach Craig Fulton said after that win. “So, we go slowly up there. Slowly, slowly.”

Slowly is exactly how India have grown into this Olympics, right from the first day when they swung to action against New Zealand. A 3-2 win followed by a 1-1 draw with Ireland was too tight for comfort. Contrast that to the fluid, attacking and engrossing hockey they displayed against Australia, who have forever snapped them in big tournaments. Contrast that to the masterclass in defence and doggedness against Great Britain, against whom they sprinted up and down the turf in numbers to take the contest to a shootout.

“If we can win from one man down, then we can definitely beat any team playing with 11 men. If we have beaten Australia, we can beat any team in the world. The confidence is sky high in the team right now,” said midfielder Manpreet Singh, the captain of Tokyo.

Which is why the captain of Paris, Harmanpreet, believes there is something in it. He can smell that team spirit, and sense a different medal from Tokyo. For that, Germany will have to be scaled first.

“The belief is there. The team is very confident after the (Great Britain) game. We are going to go higher and higher,” he said.