Young Indian team aimed for Commonwealth, Asian Games

India dumped some of its most experienced players for the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup and assistant coach Harender Singh conceded that the Delhi Commonwealth Games and Guangzhou Asian Games were of higher priority for the team, which resulted in such drastic measures.

Drag-flickers Sandeep Singh and Diwakar Ram and goalkeeper Adrian D'Souza were axed from the 18-member Indian squad after their below-par performance in the World Cup earlier this year.

Veteran strikers Prabhjot Singh and Deepak Thakur were not even considered in the probables for the May 6-16 at Ipoh, Malaysia.

Defending Champions India arrived for the tournament with 10 players from their World Cup squad and Harender admitted that a title win here is not the top agenda for the team.

''We have a mix of youth and experience for the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup. We will try our best to win but the main thing is to gauge the players and see how they will fit into our structure for the coming big assignments,'' Harender said.

''We have a bigger pool of trainees and the idea in the initial stage is to allow more young players to join the team in friendly tournaments to gain experience. That is why we have fringe players and several newcomers in the squad for the tournament in Ipoh.'' he added.

Among the players who will make their debut in the tournament are Amit Prabhaker, Rupinder Pal Singh and Ravi Pal.

In Vikas Pillay, who has four Test matches under his belt, and Mandin Antil with seven caps from the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup last year, India has a relatively inexperienced side, which makes their title defence much more difficult.

Mid-fielder Prabodh Tirkey will make a return to the team along with goalkeeper Barat Chetri, who was last seen in action in the Malaysia Hockey League (MHL) in December. Dhananjay Mahadik, who has 31 caps and showed his mettle in the India's eighth-place finish at the World Cup, has been given another chance to prove himself. ''There are some very good teams in the fray and we are looking forward to playing in this tournament. ''It will be good tests for us. There is no pressure on the players to win the title. We want them to enjoy their outings in Ipoh,'' he said.

After the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, India will head to Hamburg for a four-nation tournament. There are several Test matches lined up for India against England and Spain before going to Australia in July.

India will play a friendly match today against the Malaysian juniors starting at the Azlan Shah Stadium.

India are four-time champions in this tournament having won the title in 1985, 1991, 1995 and 2009.