India has again fallen back on old warhorse Dhanraj Pillay to lead their campaign in the 12th Sultan Azlan Shah hockey tournament, in Kuala Lumpur, from March 22 to 30.
The 18-member team, announced by the Indian Hockey Federation on Friday, comprises mostly players from the one that won the silver medal at the 2002 Busan Asian Games.
Ironically, Pillay was not included in the team for the previous edition of the tournament as he did not attend the pre-tournament camp, in Jammu, citing security fears.
Former champions India, who finished fifth in the last edition of the tournament, begin their campaign on the opening day with a match against New Zealand and clash with defending champions Germany a day later.
They meet arch-rivals Pakistan on March 26.
Pakistan will be raring to avenge the Asian Games defeat, when India had beaten them in the semi-finals. The defeat at the hands of India demoralised the Pakistanis so much that they lost the third-place play-off to lowly Malaysia and finished without a medal for the first time in the history of the Asian Games.
Mukesh Kumar and Baljit Singh, who were both left out of the Asian Games squad make a comeback to the Indian forward line. The other forwards are Gagan Ajit Singh, Deepak Thakur, Prabhjot Singh, Tejbir Singh and Pillay.
The half-backs include Ignace Tirkey, Vikram Pillay, Bimal Lakra, Arjun Halappa, Devender Singh and Prabodh Tirkey. Missing from the halfline is Viren Rasquniha, who had impressed at the Asiad.
Dilip Tirkey, who led India at the Asian Games, Kanwalpreet Singh and Jugraj Singh make up the backline while Kamaldeep Singh and Devesh Chauhan are the two goalkeepers.
IHF president K P S Gill justified Pillay's appointment as captain, saying: "There was nothing wrong with Tirkey or his captaincy. He is a good, young player, but Pillay has been appointed the captain as he is the senior-most player in the side."
Rajinder Singh and Baldev Singh will accompany the side as chief coach and coach respectively.
The team:
Goalkeepers: Kamaldeep Singh, Devesh Chauhan
Full-backs: Dilip Tirkey, Kanwalpreet Singh, Jugraj Singh.
Half-backs: Ignace Tirkey, Vikram Pillay, Bimal Lakra, Arjun Halappa, Devender Singh, Prabodh Tirkey.
Forwards: Dhanraj Pillay, Mukesh Kumar, Baljit Singh, Gagan Ajit Singh, Deepak Thakur, Prabhjot Singh, Tejbir Singh
India's fixtures:
March 22: India vs New Zealand
March 23: India vs Germany
March 25: India vs South Korea
March 26: India vs Pakistan
March 28: India vs Malaysia
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