A day after being hailed as Indias hero in the Nehru Cup win,Subrata Paul remains as aloof as ever. After night-long celebrations with his team mates,the Indian goalkeeper boarded the first flight to Kolkata on Tuesday and remained out of reach for a major part of the day. After several unreachable,busy and switched off responses,he was finally tracked down through his coach Debasish Mukherjee. Paul refutes any talk of pressure. I was never under pressure. Thats why I kept smiling. Not even when they equalised, Paul says. The tie-breaker saw him stand between India and defeat as the whole team watched in anticipation from the centre line. Paul blocked three shots but hes put it behind him already. Every tie-breaker goes down to the goalkeeper. I didnt have any plans; I just banked on my instincts. Anything could have happened; its good that it came our way. The Nehru Cup is history and I have to do well in the Asian Cup (2011), the 25-year-old says. Midfielder Renedy Singh,whose miss was followed by a smile from the goalkeeper,says it showed his composure. It was only the second penalty miss of my career. Subrata came up to me and said Dont worry,I will save it. I was a bit depressed but was surprised to see him smiling. He saved it. It was unbelievable, Renedy says. The scenes after Mondays triumph were perhaps more indicative of Subrata than anything else. While the whole team did a lap of honour,Paul was wiping away his tears as he called up his parents and Mukherjee. He asked,How are you? breaking down. Thats the first question he always asks when away. I wasnt in a position to talk too much; I had to call him later and discuss the game. Its the best hes done so far,but hes too young,give him some time, Mukherjee says. Mukherjee even found a mistake or two in Pauls game. I think he wasnt in the correct position for the last two shots. He came ahead a bit. He admitted it later, the 50-year-old says.
