Eight months after making his senior debut in a two-match series against Germany in October of last year, Rajinder Singh has emerged as a significant member of the Indian men’s hockey squad. The midfield player is now preparing for India’s FIH Hockey Pro League 2024–2025 games in Europe at the Senior National Camp at SAI Bengaluru.

“The preparations are going really well,” Rajinder stated in reference to the present training. We’re putting a lot of effort into being fitter. It’s a mix of both, with some players concentrating on fitness and others honing their stick-and-ball talents. We are now doing a little bit of everything, while the last camp before the Senior National Championships was just focused on fitness.

In February of this year, India participated in the FIH Hockey Pro League home leg in Bhubaneswar. With five victories in eight games, they earned fifteen points and are now ranked third in the standings. They conquered Spain, Germany, and England in the rematches, although they suffered three defeats against them.

“There were quite a few ups and downs in Bhubaneswar, but we learnt a great deal from them,” Rajinder remarked, evaluating the team’s performance so far in the competition and discussing the next games. As we get ready for the next leg, we continue to film those games. We must give it our all since the opponents we will be playing next are quite formidable. Our goal is to use the Pro League to earn a spot in the 2026 World Cup.

We discovered throughout the Bhubaneswar leg that we had trouble converting our opportunities even when we were making circular entrances. To make sure we convert field goals, we’re now concentrating a lot on our play inside the circle. In reference to India’s present approach, he said, “We don’t want to rely heavily on penalty corners.”

Rajinder, who is just 22 years old, has already established himself as a vital midfield player and squad member. Originally from Haryana, he advanced through the junior team’s levels and helped them win the Junior Asia Cup in 2023 and the Sultan of Johor Cup in 2022. “I’ve learnt a lot during my time with the senior players,” he remarked, talking about his experience playing with the senior side. They provide us kids excellent guidance, and when we make errors, they teach us how to deal with the situation, maintain composure, and concentrate on our game.

Rajinder attributed his quick progress over the last few months to older players Hardik Singh, Manpreet Singh, and captain Harmanpreet Singh.

I get a lot of guidance from Hardik and Manpreet Paaji, who play in the midfield alongside me. Every time I make a mistake, Hardik paji gives me advice on what to do next. To help me position myself, even Harman paji often shouts out to me from behind.

In addition to being in excellent form this season, Rajinder was instrumental in the Hyderabad Toofans’ finish as runners-up in the Hero Hockey India League 2024–2025 season. He maintained his pace and made an impression in seven of India’s eight games in the FIH Hockey Pro League 2024–2025 inaugural round.

India will play tough opponents in the Netherlands, Argentina, Australia, and Belgium in their June European leg of the FIH Hockey Pro League.

“The teams we are about to face play an extremely aggressive and attacking style of hockey,” Rajinder said in response to a question about his own objectives for the next competition. Since I don’t want any player to get past me or breach my defence, I want to concentrate on my defensive. I’ll make sure to play shoulder-to-shoulder with them since they play a really rough game.