Injuries dog World Cup squad

NEW DELHI, April 30: The Indian hockey selectors have, at least for the time being, managed to wriggle out of a tight situation by naming th...

NEW DELHI, April 30: The Indian hockey selectors have, at least for the time being, managed to wriggle out of a tight situation by naming the three key players — captain Dhanraj Pillay, forward Rajiv Mishra and mid-fielder Baljit Singh Saini — in the 16-member squad for the World Cup to be held in Utrecht, The Netherlands from May 21 to June 1.

Yet, at the same time, IHF president KPS Gill left enough room for speculation, by admitting today that Pillay and Mishra are yet to recover fully from their injuries. “Fresh trials on May 12 at the Patiala camp will give us a correct picture whether these two can actually make it to Utrecht,” Gill said. “They will be replaced by stand-byes, if they are not found 100 per cent fit,” he added. Interestingly, the federation has named eight stand-byes in the team-list.

Pillay suffered a fracture on his right ankle in the series against Pakistan, while Mishra hurt his left knee four months ago. The officials insisted that Saini was 100 per cent fit, and would needno replacement. The mid-fielder visited Dr Sehgal, a plastic surgeon yesterday, and underwent a realignment of the cheekbone, which had been displaced due to the blow suffered in Australia recently.

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While trying to strike a balance between experience and youth, the federation has sprung a surprise by dropping experienced goalkeeper AB Subbaiah from the team. “The selection has been done on the current form of players. Jude Menezes and Jagdish Ponnappa were consistent on the Australian tour,” Gill pointed out.

Another experienced and talented player missing from the team is mid-fielder Rahul Singh. While the selectors and the coaches admit that Rahul is a talented player, the fact that he plays for a lesser lights — Indian Customs — on the domestic circuit has gone against him.

Amidst talk of bringing in more youngsters to build a “team of the future”, the selectors have been forced to include several experienced players to guide the team’s fortunes in the mega-event. There are five World Cuppersin the squad. The rest mostly comprise of junior World Cuppers. “This is the best team at this given time. I am satisfied with the squad,” coach Vasudevan Baskaran said on the selection.

Baskaran admitted that injuries to Pillay and Mishra have remained a point of concern. “We need Pillay for his experience. He can get goals out of nowhere. I’m sure he’ll be fit. In case he is not, we’ll be forced to leave him out. We have our fingers crossed.

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“As far as Mishra is concerned, his limp should go in a week. Look, we want to go with the best team. Besides, we have the option to make changes a day before the tournament commences.”

On Subbaiah, Baskaran said that it was time youngsters were given a chance. “Of course, Subbaiah is experienced. But Jude and Jagdish have been playing well. If you ignore them now, they will be disheartened. We should look ahead.”

Regarding the left flank of the team, which has been non-existent in the recent past, the coach said that Samir Dad and Rajesh Chauhan hadproved in Australia that both flanks were equally potent.

Meanwhile, sources in IHF said that among the five forwards in the stand-byes — Kamal Horo, Virender Singh, Baljit Singh Chandi, Devinder Kumar and Senthil — Devinder and Virender are the most likely to get the nod in case Pillay and Mishra are ruled out.