Bengaluru: P.R. Sreejesh was included in the 20-man squad for a four-nation invitational tournament in New Zealand, beginning on January 17, offering a fresh lease of life to the experienced India goalkeeper after being in probation for 12 months for indiscipline.
The 29-year-old has also undergone rehabilitation after surgery to his anterior cruciate ligament and will feature for the country for the first time in eight months, alongside junior counterpart Krishan Bahadur Pathak — the latter among four uncapped players named to face Japan, Belgium and the Kiwis.
Pathak helped India win the 2016 junior World Cup.
Forward Dilpreet Singh, midfielders Vivek Sagar Prasad and Simranjeet Singh are the other fresh faces in the squad.
Dilpreet and Prasad figured in India’s bronze medal-winning Sultan of Johor Cup side in October. Dilpreet scored nine goals in the tournament.
The final quarter of 2017 saw Indian hockey survive a period of turbulence. Out went old stalwart Roelant Oltmans and in stepped his coaching protege Sjoerd Marijne, who has steadied the ship with an Asia Cup trophy and a third-place finish at the World Hockey league finals in Bhuvaneshar.
Marijne has stirred the pot a fair bit since his arrival, fostering a renewed sense of work ethic and responsibility within a side that boasts youth and experience.
Part of his success can be attributed to squad rotation, which means veteran midfielder Sardara Singh and forward S.V. Sunil sit this tour out.
The Dutchman isn’t shy of a bit of experimentation whilst maintaining the core squad, as he outlined his vision in a World Cup and Commonwealth Games year for India.
“We are giving youngsters international experience. We have bigger tournaments in the year and we’ll have to see whom we can field. One of our focus areas is to perform consistently especially against higher ranked teams,” said the 43-year-old at a press conference at SAI’s Bengaluru centre on Monday. “We will use this tour for our preparation for the Commonwealth Games and look at progressing to the next level after the previous two tournaments,” he added.
Squad: Goalkeepers: P.R. Sreejesh, Krishan Bahadur Pathak; Defenders: Harmanpreet Singh, Surender Kumar, Gurinder Singh, Varun Kumar, Rupinderpal Singh, Birendra Lakra; Midfielders: Manpreet Singh (capt.), Chinglensana Singh Kangujam, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Harjeet Singh, Nilakanta Sharma, Simranjeet Singh, Satbir Singh; Forwards: Dilpreet Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Mandeep Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, and Armaan Qureshi.
