The Australian team will use its previous experience of playing in India to beat the noise of packed houses in Rourkela and Bhubaneswar during the Hockey World Cup.
Even as Kookaburras’ coach Colin Batch said it was difficult to communicate with the players from the sidelines due to high noise level, co-captain Aran Zalewski said being aware on the pitch would help in tackling the noise and communicating well.
“Previously, we simulated the loud noise by putting the speakers on and trying to make it as distracting as possible. We have not done that preparation, but a lot of our players who have played in India before know what to expect. For us, it’s just being aware that the crowd is very loud here, embrace them and do whatever (it takes) to mitigate the noise by looking around, looking over your shoulder and the surroundings. We cannot control the crowd noise, all we can control is our actions,” Zalewski said.
Zalewski expressed his team’s love for the Indian spectators. “The boys enjoy it here in India. Probably the most colourful crowd we see in the world, the most entertaining crowd. Looking forward to playing before them.
“It’s a great city. We always get a warm welcome. I had my first visit to Bhubaneswar in 2013 for the Hockey India League. And the quality of the facilities were amazing – the ground, the pitch, the change room, the recovery, we spent some time in the pool in the afternoons,” he said.
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