And on Thursday afternoon, after India and Pakistan, the two bitter and unyielding rivals, were locked 1-1 at the end of full-time, the 26-year-old goalie knew it was time to walk the talk.
Not long ago, a situation like this was decided by penalty strokes. But as per new rules, a player now has to dribble into the D from the 23-yard line and find a way past the goalkeeper.
At the Seonhak hockey stadium, the Kochi lad made it the toughest thing on earth for the Pakistan forwards.
During those crucial seconds in the shoot-out, he became something bigger than the Great Wall of China in their minds. Agile, inventive and supremely self-confident, heoutthought and outmanoeuvred them.
Sreejesh charged at them to narrow the angles, made himself larger-than-life. He used his stick to sweep the ball away and put his body on the line to thwart them.
He was down one moment to prevent the shots, up the next instant to stop the flicks. This was the closest a hockey goalkeeper came to becoming a Superman. Only two out of the four Pakistani forwards succeeded in scoring, one of them barely.
India had last overcome Pakistan in an Asian Games final 48 years ago, winning 1-0 in Bangkok 1966. This was only the second time India had aced its traditional sporting foe in an Asian Games final.
"People tell me that I play even better when India take on Pakistan in hockey. It could be true because I get into revenge mode during a Pakistan game and my blood also boils," Sreejesh told NDTV in an interview after the game.
For India, his performance was good enough to help the team reclaim the Asian Games gold after 16 years. This will go down in the history of Indian hockey as one of those unforgettable displays under the bar, along with Shankar Lakshman's showing in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and Ashish Ballal's heroics in the 1998 Bangkok Games final against South Korea. Indian hockey has found a new poster boy.
If Sreejesh was the hero of the climax, the support cast played its role to perfection during the shoot-out. Akashdeep Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh, Birender Lakra and Dharamvir Singh danced past Pakistan's goalie Imran Butt with abandon as if he did not exist. The final scoreline was 1-1 (4-2) in India's favour.
Gold medal winning Indian team poses for a photograph after medal ceremony of men's hockey at the 17th Asian Games in Incheon. (PTI Photo)
Backed on by hundreds of die-hard fans who came through the turnstiles hours before the match began, Pakistan took an early lead through Mohammed Rizwan senior who slipped past Indian defenders and slammed in low to the left of Sreejesh to sound the board. The goal multiplied the decibel levels of the Pakistan supporters in green, some of whom chanted aggressive and provocative slogans. The match was played at blistering pace. At that moment it looked as if Indians would again crumble in the pressure-cooker situation. Late in the first quarter, SV Sunil missed a chance from handshaking distance.
At the stroke of the break, a mild fracas broke out after Gurbaj Singh's stick caught the neck of Pakistan winger Mohammed Dilbar. Both the umpires rushed to the spot to defuse the tension. Luckily the hooter sounded to disperse the players.
The second quarter saw India dictate terms and they slowly took control of the proceedings by slowing the tempo a bit. Indian forced their first penalty corner in the 23rd minute but Rupinder Pal's powerful flick was superbly saved by Imran diving to his left.
The Indian forwards were now drilling holes in the Pakistan defence held tight by their skipper Muhammed Imran. A flurry of shots came into the D looking for a deflection and the moment arrived when Kothajit Singh came out on top after fishing inside the circle. It was Gurbaj who had slammed the ball into the crowded D.
Both teams were playing the traditional Asian style of all-out attack and defence weaving moves through short passes and it was hockey at his best as Pakistan, who showed better stickwork, came up with quickfire counters to rattle the Indians.
In the third quarter, Pakistan forced a penalty corner in the 36th minute but Sreejesh came up with two amazing saves to deny Shakeel Abbasi.
Three minutes into the final quarter, veteran Abbasi again tried to turn on his magic but the Indian defence and Sreejesh survived. India won their second penalty corner on the counter in the 55th minute but once again Imran made a good save. India almost sealed the match in the last seconds through Kothajit and Dharamvir but Butt pushed the match into the tiebreaker
After Akashdeep Singh and Rupinder Pal Singh put India 2-0 ahead in the shootout, Sreejesh came out charging twice to deny Haseem Abdul Khan and Mohammad Ummar Butta to put India in the driving seat (2-1) after three tries. Pakistan never had a look in from there on as Birender Lakra and Dharamvir Singh rounded off Butt to make it 4-2 after five and put it beyond the reach of their arch-rivals who only had once chance left.
As the WhatsApp message wished, history had been created. It was time for celebrations now.
http://ift.tt/1thABxe Luka,Sreejesh,P R Sreejesh,Mandeep Kaur,Indian men's hockey team
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