Harpal Singh Bedi
New Delhi: Hockey India on Wednesday retained defender Amit Rohidas as captain while naming the 22-member Team for the FIH Pro League double-header against England to be played at the Kalinga Hockey Stadium in Bhubaneswar, Odisha on 2nd and 3rd April.
The 22-member squad includes goalkeepers PR Sreejesh, Krishan Bahadur Pathak, defenders Surender Kumar, Harmanpreet Singh (Vice captain), Neelam Sanjeep Xess, Varun Kumar, Amit Rohidas and Jugraj Singh.
Midfield will see Jaskaran Singh, Manpreet Singh, Hardik Singh, Nilakanta Sharma, Shamsher Singh, Raj Kumar Pal, Sumit and Vivek Sagar Prasad while the forwardline features Gurjant Singh, Mandeep Singh, Sukhjeet Singh, Abhishek, Gursahibjit Singh and Shilanand Lakra.
Additionally, Suraj Karkera, Mandeep Mor, Dipsan Tirkey, Gurinder Singh, Mandeep Mor, Sanjay, Akashdeep Singh, Moirangthem Rabichandra Singh, Ashis Kumar Topno, Mohd. Raheel Mouseen, Dilpreet Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay and Simranjeet Singh have been named as standbys.
Speaking about the team, Chief Coach Graham Reid said, “It has been quite exciting to see how some of the younger players are grabbing the opportunity to play in the Pro League and have been showing great potential. It is good for us to have these options, we have been using this platform to try out different combinations. England has a talented squad and no doubt the matches this weekend will be quite exciting.”
India has thus far played eight matches in this season of Pro League and is currently placed second in the pool table behind Germany who have 17 points while India have 16 points.
India has beaten South Africa at home (10-2, 10-2) while they won a game and lost a game each against France (5-0, 2-5) which was also held in South Africa.
At home, They won a game and lost one to Spain (5-4, 3-5) and recently against Argentina they lost 2-2 (1-3 SO) and won 4-3 in a thrilling contest.
HSB
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