The tradition of coming up with a surprise skipper just before the Olympics is nothing new for India. It had happened even in 1928, when an Indian team made its first appearance at the gala event. After the Indian contingent, comprising the likes of Richard Allen and Dhyan Chand, reached England a few weeks before the Games, they were joined by three more squad members. One of them, Jaipal Singh, who was a student of the Oxford University, was appointed the leader of the unit all of a sudden.

This year, the prelude to the voyage has been similar to some extent with PR Sreejesh, a senior member of the team, being named as the captain less than a month before the first match, replacing the veteran Sardar Singh. After their last medal win in 1980, the Olympics journey has always ended on a poignant note for the men’s team and the new leader is hopeful his side can bring about an upward trend in the performance graph.

High levels of confidence

“2012 is history. We want to change it,” Sreejesh told Scroll.in in an interview less than a week before the event starts. “The pain from the losses that we suffered is leading us and giving us the strength to work very hard. We have done it with our recent performances leading up to the Rio Games. I think the results have raised our level of confidence in the team and, yes, we are capable of winning a medal,” he said, referring to the heroics in the Champions Trophy, where his young team won silver.

India have been drawn with Argentina, Germany, the Netherlands, Canada and Ireland in Group B, and the 30-year-old believed that his team would have to plan one game at a time. “The performance on the field on any particular day will determine the results. Hence, I always insist we need to take one step at a time and one match at a time,” he said.

Family pressure

The going has not been easy for the Kerala born professional, with his family also initially not supporting his move to pursue hockey as a career. But he stressed that the journey had been worth it.

“When I took up hockey first, my family was not happy. In fact, they were against it. Not because they didn’t like the sport, but because Kerala is not known for hockey and never really had a history in it unlike athletics and football. But when I got selected for the state team in the tenth standard, my parents thought I had some scope in it. When I made it to the India team when I was in the 11th standard, they felt I can earn a name for myself in the sport. But if I didn't have my job at the Indian Overseas Bank, I don't think I would have reached this level. When I felt my life is secure with the job, I decided to pursue the sport more aggressively,” said the first Keralite captain of the national team.

‘Win together, lose together’

He, however, does not believe that the burden of wearing the armband will add any pressure on the turf. “Captaincy doesn’t change anything in our team. It’s not only on one person. If Sardar has 100% responsibility, then that applies to the 18th player of the team also. We win together and lose together.”

In the London Olympics, India had a shot-stopper Bharat Chettri as captain, but Sreejesh said he didn’t consult with him and came up with his own ideas. “As far as I am concerned, I didn’t speak to any former captains. Bharat and I were together in the last Olympics. I have got my own ideas as captain and my plans for the team and I don’t want to change myself,” he said.

Sreejesh, however, acknowledged that using modern training equipment in preparation has been a game-changer for his side. “It is helping a lot,” he said, about using Global Positioning System trackers while training. “We can assess how intense the session is and how players are coping with high intensity workouts. One can monitor if a player is getting tired in two minutes instead of going all-out for three minutes. This helps analyse the stamina levels.”

A billion people have pinned their hopes on a unit that has become the first Indian side to break into the top five of the world rankings after almost a decade and the Uttar Pradesh Wizards shot-stopper has got his own remedy to shrug off the pressure.

“I am carrying Abhinav Bindra’s book [A Shot at History] with me and have also got a few more about positive thinking. I also pick up a few books during check-in, which gives me positive vibes and helps me keep myself calm,” he said.

India will start their campaign against Ireland next Saturday as they look forward to pull off a podium finish.