The Indian men’s hockey team would continue its experiments and test its bench strength ahead of a busy calendar year, despite suffering its second defeat in the tournament, when they take on Argentina in the two-legged FIH Pro League tie to be held here. starts on Saturday. The Indians fell to their second loss in the FIH Pro League, losing 3-5 to Spain in the second leg at Kalinga Stadium here on February 27.
India’s other defeat, Tokyo’s Olympic bronze medalist, came against France (2-5) last month.
But despite that, India is currently second in the standings with 12 points from six matches, including four wins, behind the Netherlands (16 points).
India’s head coach Graham Reid continued to test his reserve players to broaden the team’s base ahead of this year’s Commonwealth Games and Asian Games, which is a qualifier for the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
Midfielder Moirangthem Rabichandra Singh, a member of the FIH Junior World Cup roster, will make his debut against the world number six, Argentina. The home side will also witness the return of Olympic medalist Gurjant Singh after a short injury.
The Indians also made some changes in the main squad of the draw with Spain.
Goalkeeper Krishan Bahadur Pathak has replaced Suraj Karkera, while Amit Rohidas and Jugraj Singh have replaced Mandeep Mor and Dipsan Tirkey in the backline.
Jaskaran Singh and Akshdeep Singh gave way to Sumit and Rabichandra in midfield.
The Indian think tank continued to put its trust in the young strikers Abhishek and Sukhjeet Singh and the compelling Jugraj Singh.
In fact, Indian team management has appointed Amit Rohidas as skipper in place of Manpreet Singh, and Mandeep Singh as his deputy for this draw to broaden the team’s leadership group ahead of the important year.
The Indians have been hit hard by late goals in both defeats and the future, and going forward, the team’s rearguard will have to advance by leaps and bounds to face stronger opponents.
India captain Rohidas said they have worked on their mistakes and are confident they will put on a good show against Argentina.
“We analyzed the mistakes we made in the previous game against Spain, and we trained and planned accordingly. We had discussions within our leadership group about the areas we need to improve. We have worked on those areas and we are have every confidence that we will put on a good show,” Rohidas said at a virtual press conference before the match.
India previously played against Argentina at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, where they defeated them 3-1 in the group stage.
The two teams also met in Argentina’s 2020-21 FIH Pro League last year, with India taking victories in both matches, one of which came in the shootout.
“We have seen videos of our matches against Argentina and have planned accordingly. They have been in great shape this season. So we are in constant discussion about what strategies to create to stop their attacking lineups. Our focus and our practice sessions are designed with the same in mind. We hope to stick to our plans and be successful in implementing the same,” said Rohidas.
Argentina, on the other hand, is sixth with nine points from four games.
The visitors would have been confident having beaten England 2-0 and 3-1 in their previous draw.
The Los Leonas also stunned Olympic champions Belgium 2-1 before losing 0-2 in the return leg.
Argentina captain Matias Rey gave a brief look at his team’s strategies in the coming games.
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“As a team we feel we have to play like we have played against England the last few games. We have to be very strong on the ball. When we don’t have the ball we have to be really aggressive and busy when we can. goal at the moment is to win both matches against India,” said Rey
(This story was not edited by DailyExpertNews staff and was generated automatically from a syndicated feed.)
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