There is a big difference between the Amandeep Lakra of before and after Hockey India League (HIL). Going into the eight-team competition that ended on February 1, Lakra was an upcoming player who had made his mark at the junior level and was aspiring to make it to the India senior team.
Now, Lakra is on the fringes of India team selection with chief coach Craig Fulton including the 22-year-old among the core probables after a brilliant run in the HIL for Hyderabad Toofans, guiding the Sumit Walmiki-led side into the final.
Though the Toofans didn’t win – they lost to Bengal Tiger – Lakra made a mark, scoring five crucial goals in the tournament. More importantly, the son of hockey coach Bijay Kumar Lakra got to share the dressing room with his idol and drag-flick legend Gonzalo Peillat for more than two months, which he says has helped him improve manifold.
“I talked a lot to him about drag-flicking, gaining a lot of information about how I can improve. He not just explained things to me, but also guided me on the ground,” said the player from Rourkela about Peillat, who won Olympic gold in 2016 with Argentina and then switched to Germany, winning silver at the Paris Games for his adopted country.
Lakra was prolific for India’s junior side, helping it win the 2022 Sultan of Johor Cup and the 2023 Junior Asia Cup. The penalty corner specialist also did well for Odisha and Railways, which led to Toofans picking Lakra as the second drag-flicker behind Peillat.
Though he found it tough initially, guidance from Peillat, who also won the 2023 World Cup with Germany, helped Lakra gain confidence. He not just took PCs but also flummoxed opposition teams as the second battery, scoring five goals in HIL.
“He taught me a lot of things like when a first rusher attacks during a PC what I should do, tricks on how to beat him and score. I learnt a lot about the timing, which Gonzalo says is the most important factor; releasing the flick at the opportune moment so that it is a combination of force and precision,” said the defender, who learnt his early lessons at the State Sports Hostel, Panposh.
Lakra’s urge to get better in PCs led him to pester the 32-year-old in his hotel room too, and the German defender was sporting. Peillat had nice words for the Indian youngster.
“He’s a talented player. He has a really nice drag-flick technique and you can see that he really wants to get in touch with international players to improve his game. We trained together and he was continuously asking for some tip or the other,” said Peillat.
“I had a look every time he was flicking just to make sure that he improves. The team saw that he had the ability to score (at a high level), which was really nice and it also gave him confidence, especially after he scored from a couple of variations. He always made sure he shot on target. The power he has is quite special and the technique is also really nice and clean. It’s something that you don’t see quite often.”
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