At one point India was hockey’s superpower. Pakistan was once a titan too. But big changes to the game contributed to the South Asian decline
. This was hockey: the quarter-final of the men’s World Cup in India. Hockey has much else in common with football: each team has 11 players, the idea is to propel a ball into a goal and the scores are of similar magnitude. Both can fluctuate from the frenetic to the soporific, even in the same match. Both mix teamwork and outrageous individual skill, such as a perfectly weighted pass or a mesmerising dribble.
Big changes to hockey contributed to the South Asian decline. In 1976 the sport began to change its playing surface, from grass to astroturf. The slick surface allows the ball to zip around, favouring speed and fitness more than skill with the stick, in which Indian and Pakistani players specialised. Astroturf was also expensive—and hence inaccessible to many poor Indians and Pakistanis.
Attempts to follow cricket have so far sputtered. In 2013 the Hockey India League, featuring teams owned by Bollywood celebrities and business honchos, was launched. It was intended to be hockey’s version of the glitzy Indian Premier League , which has transformed cricket. It fizzled out in 2017, as franchises struggled financially, but there are now plans to revive it.
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