One and done: Sarpanch Harmanpreet Singh shows what makes him different in Jalandhar

When India stepped onto the field to face Japan on Friday, October 30, they were dressed in white. They have played like saffron in all the matches so far in the tournament and the change was welcome. White is often associated with calm and patience and Indian captain Harmanpreet Singh seemed to embrace both that day.

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While the rest of the team paired their white jerseys with flashy footwear, Harmanpreet opted for a simple pair of white shoes. No fancy patterns, no bright colors. Just the manufacturer’s logo and nothing else.

BEST OF INDIA VS JAPAN

With the Indian captain playing in front of a home crowd in Jalandhar, you might have expected him to soak up the adulation and turn on the style. But whenever the buzzer sounded, Harmanpreet was all work. The noise around him seemed to die down as he slipped into his zone.

And that was exactly the kind of attitude India needed towards Japan.

India took the lead through Abhishek but Japan threatened to take control of the match. They dominated possession, circle entries and penalty corners, making the packed Surjit Hockey Stadium increasingly restless.

Then, just seconds before the end of the first quarter, Japan equalized. The mood in the stadium turned from excitement to anxiety. India struggled to find cohesion early on, with erratic passing repeatedly disrupting their attacking moves.

Even worse, they found it difficult to bring their captain into the game. India’s forwards struggled to create penalty corner opportunities so Harmanpreet waited for his moment.

That moment finally came in the 47th minute. India earned their first and only penalty corner in the match with the score 1–1. The stadium held its breath. There was no doubt about who fired the shots.

The injection and paste were perfect. Harmanpreet gave it his all to send the ball past the Japanese keeper to give India the lead.

The stadium exploded. However, Harmanpreet did not offer any extravagant celebration. Just a quiet acknowledgment of the crowd, as if to tell them he always believed the moment would come.

That was the confidence he inspired, from the fans in the stands to the leadership of the team in the basement.

“He’s world class and he doesn’t need 10 chances to score one goal. Give him three, he’ll score one and he’ll score two out of three every day, no problem,” an elated Craig Fulton told the media immediately after the win.

But while the world-class dribbler came through when it mattered most, it was another quality that prepared Harmanpreet for that one shot that changed the course of the game: patience.

DO NOT RUN FOR THE TARGET

For a player who has scored 316 goals in 280 games for the senior team and 32 in 35 games at junior level, the temptation to force the issue when his side are struggling to click would be understandable.

Yet there was never a moment on Friday when Harmanpreet left his position at the back to chase the goal. He understood what the situation required. Japan kept pushing forward and putting India’s young defense under pressure. They needed their captain to hold his position.

Harmanpreet trusted his team to create an opportunity for him. He didn’t have to go looking for it himself. In a close fight, he knew that patience and control were just as important as the ability to create a moment of magic.

“I think we always talk about this: until the final whistle we stick to what we decide to do. We shouldn’t be running for goals. I think we had quite a few entries into the circles, but of course we had less penalty corners. But that’s the thing: in a game this good, how patiently you control your mind and keep your cool, I think that’s more important,” Harmanpreet said.

“And the way we played in the last half, we knew we were going to get a goal because we kept good possession. And definitely the circular passes we had got us a good result. So I’m very happy with the performance.”

‘I HAVE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THIS’

When the opportunity finally came, Harmanpreet had no intention of letting the pressure get to him. The stakes were high and the weight of playing in front of a home crowd was undeniable. But the Indian captain knew what his team expected from him.

His responsibility was to execute the plan, not to get caught up in the moment.

“I think everybody has a different responsibility. That’s my responsibility. Sometimes you score, sometimes you don’t. But definitely, like I said, don’t run for goals and don’t think about we have to score, we have to score. My mindset was the same, whenever I get an opportunity, we will implement what we discussed in the meeting. And we implemented it well,” Harmanpreet said.

Harmanpreet needs just three wickets to overtake the great Balbir Singh to become India’s second highest run-scorer behind Dhyan Chand.

The numbers underline his figure. But perhaps what sets the Indian captain apart is not just his ability to score but his refusal to chase moments, his willingness to trust the process and his composure when the pressure is on.

In Jalandhar, on his home turf, the Sarpanch offered another reminder of why he remains one of India’s most reliable players.

– The end