I am a big fan of Ronaldo, says Indian men's hockey team striker Abhishek

New Delhi: Indian men's hockey team striker Abhishek idolises the legendary Cristiano Ronaldo and takes a lot of inspiration from the Portuguese football great's style of play.

By his own admission, Abhishek tries to inculcate Ronaldo's style in his own game by watching his videos.

Abhishek's childhood coach was a fan of Lionel Messi and wanted him to become like the Argentine great, but it was Ronaldo who fascinated the 26-yea-old striker.

"My childhood coach Shamsher Dahiya is a fan of Messi and wanted to make me like him. But I am a fan of Ronaldo. I watch all his matches from which I learn about scoring, positioning, timing and shooting," Abhishek, who has scored 48 goals in 113 matches, told PTI Bhasha.

"Both football and hockey are team sports and are played with the ball. The whole game is about running and endurance in which positioning is very important and Ronaldo is my inspiration for this."

Abhishek sparkled for India in their triumphant Asia Cup campaign in Rajgir Bihar recently. The Harmanpreet Singh-led side defeated defending champions Korea 4-1 to win the title for a fourth time and also qualify for next year's FIH World Cup to be jointly hosted by Belgium and the Netherlands from August 14 to 30.

He scored six goals in the Asia Cup, and was also the architect of many.

"I had a feeling from within that this tournament (Asia Cup) would be something special, but I did not think that I would become the player-of-the-tournament," the Paris Olympic bronze medallist said. The Asia Cup triumphant will give India ample time to prepare for next year's World Cup.

"The biggest take away from the Asia cup is that now we have got a long time to prepare for the World Cup. Talking about myself, this performance would definitely boost my confidence which will be very useful in the upcoming tournaments and the World Cup," Abhishek said.

Abhishek was a member of the team that won the bronze medal in Paris Olympics and gold at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games.

Among Indian players, Abhishek takes inspiration from former India captain Sardar Singh.

"Among Indian players, I like Sardar Singh a lot and I started playing hockey after seeing him. But before I joined the Indian team, he had retired from the game. So I did not get a chance to play with him," he said. Abhishek, who took up hockey after seeing his brother Ashish and a friend, said his parents refused to let him play hockey after suffering a wrist injury in his childhood.

But his coach convinced his parents.

"Shamsher sir does not know much about modern hockey but he tells me a lot about my game. I keep taking advice from him. I also talk openly about my game and the technical aspects with Indian team coach Craig Fulton," he said.

When asked how he celebrated the Asia Cup, Abhishek said spending time with family is the biggest celebration as he stays out of home for most of the time.

Abhishek, who is posted as a senior manager in Punjab National Bank, wants to end the 50-year title drought in the World Cup.

"We have not won the World Cup for 50 years and I think this team can win because we have defeated top teams. We just have to work on consistency because in some matches we play very well and in some we play poorly," he said.

He said the team also has to work on deep defence and finishing inside the circle.

"I want our golden era before 1975 to return when we won so many medals in the Olympics. I want us to win medals for the country in every major tournament. We should get used to winning medals. We are moving in that direction. We have won bronze in two Olympics but now the colour of the medal needs to be changed."