In the English summer of 2022, the blue India jersey gleamed under a bright afternoon sun. The flags fluttered as a cool breeze blew across the pitch in Birmingham. The faces of Harmanpreet Singh and Co, as if cut out from a rock, looked confident to continue their winning run at the Commonwealth Games.

Facing Australia for the first time since the 1-7 humiliation at the Olympics a year back, the Indian men’s hockey team wanted to get even as a lot had changed since Tokyo. They were no longer pushovers but Olympic medallists, a top-ranked squad who had marched their way to the CWG final.

But the contest turned out to be anti-climactic. The Kookaburras ripped into the Indian defence to embarrass their opponents yet again, handing India a 0-7 embarrassment – the second-worst loss in a CWG final after the 0-8 hammering India got in their own backyard in New Delhi against the same opposition. India returned with silver but there was no delight in the medal. The bronze won by the women felt far more welcoming.

“It is almost like India have had a thing with Australia more than anybody else,” coaching legend Ric Charlesworth had told this daily in an earlier interview.

It isn’t as if India haven’t won or been competitive against Australia of late. Since the CWG final, they have played nine times with the Kookaburras, winning six and losing three.

But the worry is that India have traditionally struggled against Australia in major events more than any other team. India have never beaten Australia in CWG. To look for an Indian win against the canary yellow in the World Cup, one would have to go back to Buenos Aires 1978. And the last time India beat Australia in the Olympics was more than five decades back when Mukhbain Singh scored a hat-trick to help India win 3-1 at Munich 1972. Significantly, the two wins came when the sport was played on grass.

Is Australia that superior a side or is it a psychological puzzle India have failed to solve all these years?

“I don’t think (it is a psychological problem)," said India vice-captain Hardik Singh. "We know because we play them. It may look like that from the outside, but isn’t so. When we are in our zone, we don’t see which team we are playing. In the last two Champions Trophy finals, we lost in the shootout. They used to say Germany don’t lose in the Olympics. You saw what happened in 2021.”

The current FIH Player of the Year was referring to the FIH Champions Trophy finals in 2016 and 2018 where India challenged Australia and only lost via the shootout. At Tokyo, India beat Germany, who won the World Cup last year, 5-4 in the bronze playoff to earn their first Olympic medal in 41 years.

Hardik added: "Australia have a lot of points going for them. They always have experienced players who have played 3-4 Olympics which is a big advantage. But no excuses. There is room for improvement. This time, the result will be different. We are much better tactically than we were in the past.”

Australia play a unique brand of hockey, very different from European outfits who focus on maintaining structure. They bully the opposition, compounding attack after attack that not just destroys but completely demoralises the opposition.

Their target is to go on the offensive from the start, and that is a tactic that has worked well for them against India. In the last 10 games against India, Australia have scored four or more goals seven times.

Their attacking prowess was on full display in the Pro League match in Bhubaneswar where they scored two goals but India fought back to take a 4-2 lead. Any other opposition would have been dispirited after conceding four successive goals. But not the Kookaburras. They kept attacking, pummeling four more goals to clinch the contest 6-4. So how does India chief coach Craig Fulton plan to change things against this daunting rival?

“Slowly," said Fulton, who helped guide Belgium to gold at both the 2018 World Cup and 2021 Olympics. "It is like taking on a big task. You can't just hit it head on and expect it to happen overnight. Now consciously I know this is one of our targets and hence why we are visiting Australia. Instead of sweeping it under the carpet we hit it head on and get better and better in dealing and with playing with them. That is not easy."

World No.4 India will be taking on Australia in a five-Test series in Perth, starting Saturday. With the Olympics a little more than three months away, Australia are fielding a full-strength squad but will surely hold their aces up their sleeves till the Olympics.

“Australia is a formidable team, but they have had their challenges too," Fulton argued. "When last did they win an Olympic gold despite being such a successful nation? What is it? Why haven't they done it? Why hasn't Australia won an Olympic gold in the last four Olympics? Everyone has their own challenges, their own psychological battles. This is theirs. They have to manage it.”

India are looking to set the record straight in Paris as the two teams get ready to clash on August 2. Crucially, this will be the last group game meaning quarter-final hopes will be riding on this contest. For India, the five games in Perth will be all about finding a way to break Australia's domination. The last time the two teams played a bilateral series was 18 months back in Adelaide. Though the hosts won 4-1, most matches were tight contests.

India go into Paris as Olympic bronze medallists. They are by far the best side in the continent, having convincingly won both the Asian Champions Trophy and Asian Games last year. They are currently ranked No.4 in the world and have beaten all top teams in the recent past. But to win a successive Olympic medal – the first time in 52 years – will take something special.

"Our confidence is very high," said Hardik. "We know how to play in an Olympic quarter-final and semi-final now. We understand the pressure. Tactically we are strong too. The motto is to not return empty handed. We want to play like this could be our last Olympics. Hopefully, we will beat everyone, Australia or Germany, in a major tournament. The target is gold.”

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