Advertisement
Indian football team head coach Igor Stimac has named a 38-man provisional squad for India’s upcoming trip to Bahrain. The Blue Tigers will play two friendlies as part of their preparations for the 2023 Afc Asian Cup third round qualifiers. They will play the first match against the hosts and then will lock horns with Belarus on March 23 and 26 respectively.
The players along with the coach will assemble in Pune on March 10 and will commence their training from the next day onwards. The players whose clubs would be playing in the semi-finals of the ongoing Indian Super League will be joining the camp as and when their club commitments end. The list will later be pruned, and the contingent will be flying to Bahrain on March 21.
The Croatian has called up a bunch of new faces for the preparatory camp that will be held before flying out to Bahrain. Kerala Blasters’ Prabhsukhan Gill, Mumbai City FC’s Mohammad Nawaz and Vikram Pratap Singh, ATK Mohun Bagan’s Deepak Tangri, Bengaluru FC’s Roshan Singh, Hyderabad FC’s Aniket Jadhav, NorthEast United’s VP Suhair, and Odisha’s Jerry Mawihmingthanga have got their maiden national team call up.
“I have been watching every single game and admiring the boys for giving everything they have for their clubs,” Stimac expressed. “It’s been terrible for everyone involved since the pandemic started, but the job needs to be done. At the same time, we need to commend the super organisational capabilities of the two Leagues being held simultaneously under current circumstances – that too when footballing activities all over have stumbled a bit.”
Meanwhile, Suresh Singh and Farukh Choudhary have been dropped from the squad that participated in the SAFF Championship due to their injury troubles. Whereas, Sandesh Jhingan makes a comeback after missing out on the SAFF Championship.
Senior players like Sunil Chhetri, Gurpreet Singh, Pritam Kotal and regular faces like Sahal Samad, Liston Colaco, Bipin Singh have found a place in the list.
Bahrain are ranked 91st in the FIFA rankings, while Belarus are 94th. India’s current ranking is 104. The last time India played any UEFA member association was more than a decade ago in February 2012 against Azerbaijan, a match in which India lost 0-3.
India Provisional Squad
Goalkeepers: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Amrinder Singh, Dheeraj Singh, Prabhsukhan Gill, Mohammad Nawaz.
Defenders: Pritam Kotal, Ashutosh Mehta, Seriton Fernandes, Asish Rai, Deepak Tangri, Rahul Bheke, Narender Gahlot, Chinglensana Singh, Sandesh Jhingan, Roshan Singh, Akash Mishra, Subhasish Bose, Mandar Rao Dessai.
Midfielders: Udanta Singh, Vikram Pratap Singh, Pronay Halder, Brandon Fernandes, Glan Martins, Anirudh Thapa, Apuia, Sahal Abdul Samad, Yasir Md, Lallianzuala Chhangte, Bipin Singh, Ashique K, Jeakson Singh, VP Suhair, Aniket Jadhav, Jerry Mawihmingthanga.
Forwards: Manvir Singh, Sunil Chhetri, Rahim Ali, Liston Colaco.