“He hasn’t got the blend of his team right, he hasn’t got the shape of his team right to what he wants, but that requires work,” said Butcher. This chopping and changing will not be good for the consistency of the team. “There are no Japanese drivers at the very top either because it takes time. ” By the time Gopichand came along, he’d retired but recalls being gladdened by the fact that someone with elegant strokeplay and not “crash-bang” had won the All England. Trailing 11-14 at the break, Bengal Warriors did well to bounce back for a slender 25-24 lead in front of their star co-owner Akshay Kumar. “Any combination as far as consortium is concerned is possible. Retirement talk follows Dan and Lee Chong Wei routinely and it even struck Lilyana Natsir — the Indonesian doubles great. They don’t know the pattern of sport and the flavour of modern hockey,” he said. Oltmans’ future was thrown into doubt in July after India’s dismal performance at the Hockey World League. The team finished sixth out of 10 teams in the tournament but the defeats to minnows Malaysia and Canada dented the confidence Hockey India had in him.