The players address him as "Mr Kaushik, Sir".
That's because, they say, Indian women's hockey coach MK Kaushik is a disciplinarian.
"They are sincere, hardworking and disciplined girls and women, so that makes my job easier," coach Kaushik tells SportToday.
An 1980 Olympic gold medal-winning hockey champion and 1982 World Cup team member,
the coach hopes his 13th-ranked India will leapfrog the ninth-placed Black Sticks in the world rankings.
The Sticks have not lost to India at home in three of the six series the two countries have played in New Zealand in the past 11 years.
The last time the two teams locked horns was at the 2006 Commonwealth games in Melbourne when the Indians won 1-0 before going on to clinch silver.
Kaushik says this tour is to prepare his troops for the World Cup in Argentina from August 29 before hosting powerhouses such as Australia, England and the Sticks at the Delhi Commonwealth Games days later.
"Our country's very hard on its players and especially the coaches. Foreign coaches are treated much better than locals."
He believes systematic and consistent training is lacking in the Indian camp and says New Zealand coach Mark Hager, his assistants, Chris Leslie and Greg Nicol, of Napier, and their technical staff displayed standards they needed to adopt.
It disappointed him that India muscled up against world champions the Netherlands and powerhouse Germany at the Madrid World Cup in 2006 but didn't show that mental fortitude against China, Korea and Chile.
"We're not very fit physically - and synthetic pitches demand strength. We need to improve by about 25 per cent," he says but emphasises a balance is needed to ensure their skills and set-piece play is not compromised in trying to attain that elite level of fitness.
Indian players from yesteryear, he says, were more skilful because they played fewer tournaments.
The Sticks' ability to counterattack impresses him but he feels India should have won the drawn second test.
Kaushik believes the Kiwis are a little under strength due to injuries but expects them to come out fighting to save the series tonight.
