Indian hockey, friendless for last so many years is suddenly winning friends and influencing a change of heart among sports lovers in the country.

One could understand the fall in the game’s popularity, which was on account of a lack of significant success in the international arena. But that there should be a general apathy all round, not the least of which in the game’s administration itself was indeed a cruel consequence for which the players could not be blamed.

Since winning the last Olympic title at Moscow in 1980, India did not win anything of consequence, except the 1998 Asian Games gold. This singular triumph, however, led to a strange reaction on the part of the officialdom. While the Asiad gold-medal winning team was being felicitated all over the country, and its captain being heralded as one of the most skillful players in the world, the administrators had not taken kindly to some open criticism by the players of some of the team officials. In a surprise move, six players were sacked, including the captain Dhanraj Pillay.

The administration-players tug-of-war led to a steep decline in India’s performances in the international arena. The constant chopping and changing of players and coaches did not help matters any. Better late than never, the top brass of the Indian Hockey Federation realized their mistake. The hate syndrome against the leading players was dropped. Dhanraj Pillay was welcomed once again into the national side and was even made captain. Things started to change dramatically.

The Indian team was back to its old winning ways and, in the last three months, the eight-time Olympic champions began to look just that as it took all the leading nations like Pakistan, Australia and Germany in its stride. The team is now preparing for the Champions Trophy with renewed confidence.

The latest performances and the candid manner in which Dhanraj Pillay repeatedly appealed to the sports-loving public of the country and particularly the media to give Indian hockey a chance to prove itself. “Support us and see what we can achieve.” It was a hard sell alright in the face of the tremendous popularity of cricket, but it was as vigorous a campaign for hockey as never seen before.

Despite the fact that so many top cricketers were hogging all the limelight, Dhanraj Pillay, with his rags-to-riches story and not-a-little rustic talk, started attracting the attention of the media, especially the many television channels. He endeared himself to all and sundry, so much so that the big corporate bodies, sold heart and soul on cricket, decided to lending support to hockey.

One big offer from the firm that sponsors the Indian cricket team, led to hockey finally getting its due place in the sporting vision of the nation. The sponsorship of the Indian hockey team, at the moment, is worth a stupendous 240 million rupees, an amount that the IHF may not have spent on the Indian team totally in the last 15 years.

What is even more encouraging for the game and those who would like to take to it, is that Dhanraj Pillay has become a new sporting pin-up boy on television. A few months ago, when Sachin Tendulkar’s 30th birthday was celebrated with so much glare of publicity, with one TV channel trying to outdo the other in special programs, some had reacted by saying that they were indeed going overboard. But a few days ago, the same TV channels highlighted Dhanraj Pillay’s 37th birthday in no less fulsome a manner than they had dome in the case of Tendulkar.

Nothing would have made the die-hard hockey-lovers happier. Are we indeed seeing better days for Indian hockey?