Amazing Sons of India
Then Dhyan Chand said - if you save my next shot, I will stop playing hockey. True to his word, on his next possession, Dhyan Chand hit a scorcher right over my head to the centre of the net.
Biography of Hockey Wizard Dhyan Chand
By Niket Bhushan, Wiley Eastern Ltd., 1992
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Amazing Sons of India | Decades later, an old goalkeeper
on a wheelchair told Ashok, "Your father was a marvel. I saved his
first shot at goal by diving full length to my right. The second shot was
far to my left. I dived and saved yet again.
Then Dhyan Chand said - if you save my next shot, I will stop playing hockey. True to his word, on his next possession, Dhyan Chand hit a scorcher right over my head to the centre of the net. |
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n 1935, India had its second tour of New Zealand. Out of 48 matches played,
India won all 48, and scored 584 goals, with only 40 scored against them. Again, the
highest number of goals India scored in a match was 24. Dhyan Chand recalled
later that on the rain-sodden, uneven grounds of New Zealand and Australia, it was
difficult to score goals.
It was winter in New Zealand, and often times the biting cold and rain made playing impossible. Wrote a local newspaper on India's performance in a match, "How do they do it, these amazing sons of India? The more one sees of them, the more bewildering is their display, and the more one marvels at their infinite variety. They have made hockey a fine art. If simplicity is the highest form of art, these Indians have reached the height of perfection in hockey."
In the last test match in New Zealand, the home side decided to make playing conditions tough for the Indians. They cut the grass only in the 'D', but let the long grass remain in the rest of the field.
New Zealand went up by one goal in the first 5 minutes thanks to a penalty corner. Due to the poor ground conditions, Dhyan Chand and Roop Singh decided to change their style of playing. Instead of letting the ball touch the ground, they kept it on their sticks mid-air. Controlling the elevated ball with their stick, they scored 5 goals.
Decades later, when Dhyan Chand's son Ashok Kumar toured New Zealand, an old goalkeeper on a wheelchair met him. He told Ashok, "Your father was a marvel. I saved his first shot at goal by diving full length to my right. The second shot at goal was far to my left. I dived and saved yet again.
Then Dhyan Chand said - if you save my next shot, I will stop playing hockey. True to his word, on his next possession, Dhyan Chand hit a scorcher right over my head to the centre of the net. The gap between my head and the bar was very little but the ball went through into the goal."
In the 1935 tour of New Zealand and Australia, Dhyan Chand scored a massive 201 goals in just 43 matches, a possible world record. Roop Singh was second with 185 goals, while Frank Wells scored 110 goals.
Hockey Fans with Dhyan and Roop Singh before the 1935 tour of NZ and Australia