NEW DELHI, Nov. 28 -- A Junior World Cup at home. An experienced campaigner and two-time Olympic bronze medallist PR Sreejesh as head coach. Many matches to prepare for the all-important tournament. On paper, India seem ready to face the best U-21 teams in the world but it isn't going to be a cakewalk for the hosts who are gunning for their third Junior World Cup title. India colts finished with a silver medal finish at the Sultan of Johor Cup last month - their last competition before the Junior World Cup that starts this Friday - but by no means was it a complete show by the Rohit-led side. India registered competitive victories against Great Britain (3-2), New Zealand (4-2) and Malaysia (2-1) but they failed to beat Pakistan (3-3), a team which gets very little international exposure. To make it worse, India lost against Australia, 2-4 in round robin and 1-2 in the final. What it shows is that though India may be a competitive team but to beat the likes of Australia, seven-time champions Germany, two-time winners Argentina, and powerhouses Netherlands and Belgium is going to take some effort if they wish to lift the trophy in Chennai on December 10. In Johor Bahru, India failed to maintain a clean slate in all six games. Though they scored 15, they also conceded 14. Rohit and Co perhaps played their best match in the final and looked to take the contest into the shootout. But India conceded a penalty corner (PC) in the 11th hour - a traditional Achilles' heel - to lose the final and trophy. India's tournament goal count could have also been more had they not missed numerous short corners throughout the competition. "Reaching the final and putting up a good show against Australia was a great morale booster and gives us confidence. Definitely, there were concerns about PC conversion. After that, we emphasised and gave more importance to PC conversion as well as defense," said junior India head coach Sreejesh, who was awarded the Padma Bhushan - India's third highest civilian honour - in April. "We attacked a lot and got a lot of counter attacking goals. We did well in attacks but simultaneously also conceded goals. That was an area we gave importance to in the last few weeks of preparation." Sreejesh arranged practice matches with players from Naval Tata HPC, Bhubaneswar. The boys also played against the Indian senior team in the camp in Bengaluru....