Manpreet Singh builds long-playing record by being hungry, humble and smart

It may not have come in happy circumstances but, as milestone’s go, Indian hockey star Manpreet Singh Pawar’s 400th cap is hard-earned and at once well-deserved. Though it has been clouded by a string of six successive defeats of the Indian team in the FIH Pro League in Antwerp, his longevity has not been overlooked but celebrated.

He has also kept his hunger stokes, stayed humble and been smart about his game – the ideal team player in a manner of speaking. From being a teenager blooded into the senior squad in 2011 to being the senior statesman in the side now, he has negotiated each phase of his journey with aplomb.

By contributing as a schemer rather than be a massive goal-scorer – that privilege is largely reserved for the dashing forwards and the penalty corner specialists – or a spectacular goalkeeper, he has made his presence felt as an integral part of the team for close to a decade and a half.

Then again, longevity does not come all by itself. An athlete has to find reserves of motivation, develop the physical and emotional bandwidth to compete with younger players for a spot in the squad and the ability to reinvent oneself to remain relevant to the plans made by the team management. Manpreet Singh has ticked all these boxes with dignity. 

It is creditable that he has been in the scheme of things of at least eight coaches in his 14-year career with the Indian team. It is an indication of how he has managed his endurance thermostat, no matter whether he was given captaincy responsibilities or not. Only those who have played team sport at any level can begin to comprehend how stressful that can be.

It would be fascinating to delve into the playmaker’s mind and understand how he developed implicit faith with his team-mates, no matter what their role is. Being on the same wavelength with one’s team-mates can be a demanding task in all sport, more so in such high speed. And to have done it with successive generations of players is worthy of high praise.

Sport and its practitioners have this amazing ability to shock and surprise. Yet, even as we have this conversation about longevity on the international circuit, it is hard to ignore the sneaking feeling that the age of the long-playing athletes is possibly behind us, more so because athletes reap greater rewards in a shorter span now and seem content with a shorter shelf life. 

Indeed, the days when a Sachin Tendulkar would play 200 Tests across 24 years, a Leander Paes who featured in 58 Davis Cup ties over 30 years, a Sunil Chhetri who has figured in 155 matches for India in 20 years – to name a few – are behind us. Even Virat Kohli, synonymous with fitness, quit Tests after 123 games, ranking only seventh among Indian players.

However, it will help to remind oneself that one can never write off sportspersons. England fast bowler Fred Trueman famously said that anyone who gets to 300 wickets in Test cricket would be “bloody tired”. He would not have known that 38 bowlers went past his record haul of 307 Test wickets, raising the threshold of weariness.

To get back to talking about Manpreet Singh Pawar, him from Mithapur village near Jalandhar, he has already set high benchmarks for generations of hockey players to follow. Long before he hangs up his boots – and it must be believed that there is some time left for that – he has earned himself a place in Indian hockey’s Hall of Fame.