India Name Young Squad for New Zealand Centenary Series — Sanjay to Captain
India are going to New Zealand with a young side and a familiar captain.
Hockey India named a 20-man squad on Monday for the centenary series against the Black Sticks in Auckland, and Sanjay will lead it. No Harmanpreet. No Hardik, no Manpreet, no Mandeep. The senior core that lifted the Asian Champions Trophy in Mohali last week stays home.
This is a development tour in all but name. Craig Fulton has form here. He did the same thing at last year’s Azlan Shah Cup, resting the big names and handing Sanjay the armband so the next group could have a proper run at international hockey. Sanjay captained that side too, and now he gets the job again.
The squad
Goalkeepers: Mohith HS, Pawan
Defenders: Talem Priyobarta, Sanjay (captain), Nilam Sanjeep Xess, Sharda Nand Tiwari, Anmol Ekka, Yashdeep Siwach
Midfielders: Angad Bir Singh, Aditya Arjun Lalage, Rabichandra Singh, Vishnukant Singh, Manmeet Singh, Rosan Kujur, Venkatesh Kenche
Forwards: Ajeet Yadav, Uttam Singh, Karthi Selvam, Arshdeep Singh, Araijeet Singh Hundal
A few of these names will be familiar. Yashdeep Siwach and Aditya Arjun Lalage were in the World Cup squad in August. Nilam Sanjeep Xess played at the Asian Champions Trophy. But most of this group are still making their case, and a three-match series against a senior international side is exactly the kind of test that sorts out who is ready.
The series
Three matches at Lloyd Elsmore Park in Auckland, on 19, 21 and 22 November. It marks 100 years since India’s first hockey tour to New Zealand in 1926, and it is the reason the Premier Hockey League takes a break for the next two weekends.
One thing to get straight: these are not official Test matches. The Black Sticks have said so themselves. It is a three-match invitational series, the Slumberzone Cup, and both sides are treating it as a chance to look at players rather than a ranking exercise.
New Zealand named their squad back on 20 October. Five players join the wider group for the first time: Dean Clarkson, Javahn Jones, Sam Lints, Tim Greenwood and Zander Fraser. Richard Joyce is back too, returning to the group after stepping away from international hockey in 2020.
What it means
For India, this is about depth. The first-choice side has just come through a World Cup and an Asian Games gold and an Asian Champions Trophy in the space of three months. The Pro League starts on 8 December. Fulton needs to know who he can trust when the schedule bites, and Auckland is where he finds out.
For our money, the names to watch are the forwards. Uttam Singh and Araijeet Singh Hundal have been knocking on the door for a while, and a series like this is where a young attacker either announces himself or goes back to the queue. Sanjay, meanwhile, gets another crack at leading a side, which tells you plenty about how the coaching staff rate him as a future leader.
The tour runs from 15 to 23 November, with the three matches on the 19th, 21st and 22nd. Then it is back to domestic hockey, with the PHL resuming on 28 and 29 November at North Harbour.
