How Bengal Tigers won Hockey India League: Ageing but inspirational captain, coach seeking redemption, on-fire Indian-core
An ageing captain, who had announced his retirement from international hockey more than three years back. A head coach who had to step down from his long-standing role with the Australian men’s national team after a shock quarterfinal exit at the Paris Olympics. A squad with an average age of 27.5, with half of the overseas contingent well past 30. And 40.5 per cent of their Rs 4 crore purse to build a squad of 24 players spent on just three Indian stars. It’d be fair to say that before the Hockey India League 2024-’25 season began, the Shrachi Rarh Bengal Tigers wouldn’t have been considered overwhelming favourites for the title.But Rupinderpal Singh’s social media caption said a story. “They didn’t believe in us, we believed in us,” he wrote. The first part of the statement was an acknow...