Midfield mesmeriser Mohammad Raheel can be Indian hockey’s linkman with his creativity and dodging dribbles

The hockey stick is their family heirloom. And playing the sport is like continuing a decades-long tradition.

Mohammad Raheel, 27, the latest skilled sensation from India’s national hockey team, was only five years old when he stepped on the gravel-based surface of the HAL ground in Bangalore. Yet, it felt like the most natural thing for him to do. After all, playing hockey is what every male member of his family has done since the 1950s.

It started in the early post-independence years when his grandfather, Mohammad Amiruddin, began playing hockey for the postal department team. Raheel’s father, Mohammad Naseeruddin, then took over the baton, flourishing in the domestic circuit while playing for Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).

Naseeruddin’s two brothers also followed in their father’s footsteps – Mohammad Jani Moeddin making a name for himself in Bombay, playing for the Tatas.

His elder sibling, Nazeeruddin, spent years playing in the circuit in Bangalore. Raheel’s brother, Nayeemuddin, carried forward the legacy and made it to India’s junior team.

But none of them reached as far as Raheel. “He is a little extra-ordinary,” Naseeruddin gushes.

Last week, the hockey world got a glimpse into what Bangalore’s proud sporting family have long believed. In what was an otherwise forgettable tour of Australia for the Indian hockey team, suffering a 5-0 whitewash, Raheel emerged a revelation.

With his sublime dodging skills, the attacking midfielder glided past the imposing Australians. He looked in control of himself and the game, reading situations and using his game IQ to counter Australia’s aggressive pressing. And each time he got the ball, Raheel’s first instinct was to march forward.

For an Indian team struggling to get its attacking act together with barely 100 days left for the Paris Olympics, Raheel has presented coach Craig Fulton an option. The Australia tour and the Pro League earlier this year were an audition for the team for the Olympics. The question then is, has he done enough to make a late push for a spot in the 16-member Paris-bound squad?

“I believe he has made good use of the three chances he got in Perth. He has waited a long time for these opportunities,” Naseeruddin says.

Naseeruddin speaks not only as Raheel’s father but also as his first coach. He speaks fondly of a young Raheel, inspired by the great Dhanraj Pillay, practising the dribble alone in a corner of the ground while the elders played a match.

With his mesmerising skills, honed on the uneven surface, Raheel began grabbing the attention of all those who saw him play.

Naseeruddin recalls this time when he had made the short trip from Bangalore to Chennai to watch Raheel play in the sub-junior National Championship final against Tamil Nadu. The father – the coach – sat anxiously in the stands, watching Raheel and also eavesdropping on the conversations the old-timers were having.

A sentence they kept repeating stayed with Naseeruddin: ‘Avlo nala ula edithitu povan’ – ‘He dribbles so well into the ‘D’.’ “When he got the ball, even if it was at the centre-line, everybody knew he would get into the ‘D’,” Naseeruddin says.

The dodge became his identity, a skill that even impressed the great Jude Felix – former India captain and Dronacharya Award-winning coach – when he saw Raheel at inter-school tournaments in Bangalore.

Years later, in 2018, Felix got a chance to directly impact Raheel’s game when he was the coach of India’s under-23 team that travelled to Belgium for a five-nation tournament. Felix noticed that Raheel, who was selected as a forward, ‘didn’t have the poaching ability and finishing skills to become a great striker.’

“But the way he handled the ball, his understanding of the game, sense of passing, the kind of runs he made and the cunningness, these were all attributes of a very good midfielder,” he says. “So, I mentioned (to Hockey India) five-six years ago that this boy should be made to play in the midfield and be coached in that role.”

Raheel had to wait for four years for his next major assignment. Then India coach Graham Reid picked him as a midfielder, as Felix suggested, for the Pro League matches and a tour to Australia in late 2022, months before the World Cup on home soil. Raheel played – and impressed – in the few chances he got. But when the squad was named, his name was missing.

Since then, he’s remained a regular in the core group but a national team call-up remained elusive. There are suggestions within the hockey circles that now is the right time to give Raheel a longer rope.

Creates chances

With India’s midfield and forward line struggling to connect, and the team unable to win penalty corners or create scoring opportunities against big teams, Raheel – along with Hardik Singh – can sprinkle a dash of creativity in the midfield. It could also give India a Plan B when the aerial-ball strategy might not work.

Felix has glowing remarks for Raheel but also says the midfielder ‘has to be coached’ and has to ‘see more of the ball’. He cites the example from the fifth match against Australia when Raheel tried to dribble past three players in front of him and lost the ball.

“That’s where coaching is needed,” Felix says. “But the coach must also know how to use him. A good player can’t get a ball just a couple of times, that’s not good enough. People have to know how to pass the ball to him; he must know how to pick the ball so you can see him in action and be much more effective.”

These are areas that will smoothen out only when he gets to play more, Felix says, adding that Raheel along with vice-captain Hardik Singh and Vivek Sagar Prasad can bolster India’s midfield.

“You need players who are creative and he certainly is. He can definitely boost the midfield. If you have a player like Raheel and Vivek next to Hardik (Singh), they will create chances,” Felix says.

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