A star in the making — the story of Abhishek, a special talent

Everyone knows the iceberg analogy – you know, the one where what you see is just 10 per cent and the rest is under water, hidden in plain sight, unknown and unappreciated? Abhishek’s career that has rocketed with the Indian men’s hockey team in the last two years has been something similar.

The 24-year old has been one of the fastest growing stars in a team in transition post Tokyo Olympics but if he seems indispensable to India’s goalscoring hopes and, by extension, medal fortunes in Paris, it’s got a lot to do with 16 years of grind before the youngster finally broke through.

“The senior India team spot has been around for the last two years, since I was first named in the camp in 2022 (he made his India debut the same year, during the FIH Pro League in South Africa). But it has been a long journey – almost 18 years – from when I first picked up the stick. The first 10 years were spent on grass before I went to the National Hockey Academy (in Delhi, under MP Ganesh). I got selected for the junior India team but then was out for three years, too old for juniors and not ready for the seniors. That was the period I spent getting better with my organisational team, Punjab National Bank before the national side call-up,” he mumbles.

The iceberg example extends to the entirety of Abhishek’s existence. He is deceptively calm off the field. He whispers and mumbles more than he speaks, tries to avoid eye contact as much as possible, smiles a lot and prefers actions to words. The braces he wears only add to the effect. Sitting down for an interaction, his entire body seems ready to fold into itself and disappear. On the field, he’s a different beast, unleashed.

Lightning quick on his feet, with impeccable control of the ball and ability to judge the right angles to push through inside the circle, Abhishek undergoes a transformation that’s hard to believe. There is a confidence he oozes and a presence that forces the public to follow his movements. He is a lot more vocal too, but always level-headed. The one aspect common to both his selves is his clarity of thought.

“I am not an introvert,” he protests with a laugh, genuine but still muted. “Honestly, I did not expect big things when I first came into the national set up. I only thought of making the core group of 33, may be play a few test matches, you know, ease into the side and gradually grow. That would have been enough for me. I have been lucky to get a chance to play important games soon after joining the camp. Coach Graham Reid trusted me and gave me opportunities and I am thankful to him for taking the punt on me. I have learnt a lot, got a lot of experience with this group,” he admits.

Luck factor

Luck, in fact, is a word Abhishek uses liberally, but there is no denying that he has put in the hard yards to earn it. As the saying goes, the harder you work, the luckier you get. Abhishek is an example of it. Whether it was starting in the sport watching a friend and then sticking to it even after the latter quit or working on his fitness to build up strength or learning from the bench, Abhishek has plugged away, stubbornly, to be where he is. The 32 goals in 74 games are testament to it.

“Haan zidd to bahut hai, jo karna hai wo karna hi hai, chahiye to chahiye (yes there is stubbornness, what needs to be done has to be done). That has always been my mindset. It’s now the same for a medal at Olympics, even though I know it will not be easy. To do whatever it takes —marna pade, katna pade, khoon aye, sar phoot jaye (die, bleed, break bones) – the end result is to score goals, win matches,” he says quietly, softly, and that’s when you realise the lanky kid is a lot tougher than he looks.

It’s also a measure of his quiet, ambitious confidence that the first time he wore the India jersey, as part of the Under-18 Asia Cup squad, it was a surreal moment that, instead of feeling like an achievement, made him realise it was only the beginning.

“I was at the NHA in 2016, all of a sudden there were trials and just like that, my name was in the team and I got my first India jersey. It was surreal – you know, I had been playing hockey for 10 years at that point of time and it was the one thing I had been dreaming of, wearing India colours, playing for the country, and snap, it just happened. You know how you feel sort of blank when you work hard for something all your life and then it happens overnight?

“But once I actually wore it, it did not feel like an achievement – it felt like the beginning of a very long road, on which this was but the first step. That jersey was not a target achieved, it was when I first started dreaming big. You also need luck, first to get a chance and then to make sure you use that chance well. There are many, many good players; not everyone can go to the top,” he insists, staring at the floor, clearly present but distant, far from the sylvan surroundings of the SAI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru, perhaps at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in the national capital.

Till then, the dreams were more modest, more middle-class – play a few years, get good enough to land a government job, ensure financial security for the family. “Wo bachpana tha (that was childishness). Hockey is now my passion, an obsession. If I don’t train once, the entire day feels incomplete. The more I played, the more mature I became, the dreams got bigger – first to get into national camp, then play for India, then go to the Olympics, then get a medal there. The first three have been ticked, I am hopeful of getting the last one in Paris,” he said.

The Olympics, like every Indian sportsperson, has been the recurring dream forever and making the Paris squad is but an incomplete motif. “Medal is the main thing, then only the dream will be complete. Warna Olympians to desh me bahut hain (there are many Olympians in India),” he states simply.

Rigorous demands

The two years in the national set up has also taught him the ridiculous demands of professional excellence. “There is a hierarchy in domestic hockey, the coach is paramount, fitness is inconsistent and personal preferences matter a lot. When you come to the national camp, it’s a complete different world —more professional, more intense. Your performance is in front of everyone and that’s all that matters. The small and big moments, the sheer physical and mental fitness levels, the focus, everything is very different.

“In these two years, I have learnt to respect and stick to the team’s structure, play to the plan. That’s what you have worked for and worked on, the more you deviate from it the more mistakes you will make. The small things matter and I am lucky to have a group with me that treats you like family,” he explains.

Talk veers to his entry into a camp where some players had careers as long as his entire existence on Earth and Abhishek admits there was diffidence, a remnant of his domestic days when respect for seniors was a big thing. “When I came in the beginning, I did not know anything. As a youngster walking into a dressing room or the mess with players like Sree bhai and Manpreet paaji and Harmanpreet paaji, there was a nervousness.

“I only wanted to stay disciplined and focus on my work, do whatever I was being told and keep self belief. I also used to wonder if I should wish the seniors, you know, what if they got angry if I don’t behave properly. But my first coach, Shamsher Singh, was always there to back me and the seniors have been super supportive. He was the one who told me that every chance I get will be both a test of my abilities and an opportunity to prove myself, it is all about making the best of what you get,” he admits.

The spotlight on scorers can work in funny ways but Abhishek appears unperturbed. “It is neither a pressure nor a responsibility. As strikers, we have the freedom to go there, take risks and try scoring because we know that even if we make mistakes, there are others at the back. It is more difficult for the defenders because their one error can prove costly, so the pressure is all on them.”

The basics have been done, the plans made, the combinations decided. As Paris looms, the focus is now on the intangibles – the unsaid connection between players that is so important at the elite level. “We are working more on actions inside the circle. The most important thing is connection – understand each other and their game, create space for each other, have faith in each other. Under pressure, those will be the make or break moments.”

If his journey so far is any indication, pressure is the last thing that will break the kid from Sonepat.