Soft in the middle, India have hard task ahead

The 11-day tournament will be played on a round-robin format among Australia, Pakistan, India, South Korea, New Zealand, South Africa and hosts Malaysia, with the final slated for June 5.

For three-times winners India, the team they have fielded here can best be described as a mixed bag, churned out in the absence of the juniors who travel to Spain, for an under-21 four-nation tournament, en route to Rotterdam for the defence of their World Cup title next month.

Though India have quite a few newcomers who stood out in the inaugural Premier Hockey league at Hyderabad early this year, the dampener was the injuries to regular midfielders Viren Rasquinha and Vikram Pillay, besides veteran striker Samir Dad, who was hoping for a comeback.

Even though Dilip Tirkey is back after a long injury layoff, the captain would be hoping that the other deep defenders — the youthful Harpal Singh and Muthuselvan — would be as sturdy, while the locally popular Len Aiyappa would execute the penalty corner drag-flicks.

The midfield appears to be vulnerable in the absence of Rasquinha and Pillay. That means Ignace Tirkey and Bimal Lakra will have to work overtime, with the unflinching support of rookies Avtar Singh and Jaswinder.

The coaches Rajinder Singh (jr) and Narinder Pal Singh may even play Arjun Halappa in the right midfield slot to blunt rival onslaughts. (PTI)