The Indian team later went to the Netherlands for a warm-up tour ahead of the World Cup. They floundered in most of the matches against a developmental Dutch side, which was enough to demoralise the team.
Walsh worked intensely on the fitness of the players and also sharpened their basic skills going into the World Cup, where they showed enough signs of improvement.
However, results continued to elude the team. They suffered losses due to last-gasp goals in the matches against Belgium and England. A timid draw against Spain and a 0-4 drubbing against the eventual champions Australia disappointed everyone. However, they beat South Korea 3-0 to finish ninth.
With their capability in question, the team went to the Commonwealth Games with Walsh proclaiming "improvement" as his only aim. Their most impressive show came against New Zealand in the semifinal. Despite Sardar sitting out of the match, the young team came from two goals behind to stun the Black Sticks to enter the final. Australia put up another creditable show to beat India in the two teams' second consecutive CWG summit clash.
