22-man hockey squad picked for Canada tour

New Delhi: The newly formed national hockey selection committee on Wednesday announced a 22-strong squad, sans a fixed captain, for an away seven-match Test series against Canada from next month.

Interestingly, the committee has not named any captain for the exposure trip and captaincy will rotate during the October 2-25 tour.

Sandeep Singh had led the Indian team to its 12-Test European tour recently.

The Canada tour will kick off on October 9 and will culminate on October 24.

"This tour is part of Hockey India's effort to provide comprehensive practice ahead of the Champions Challenge I Tournament at Salta, Argentina in December and further build up for the World Cup at New Delhi in February - March next year," a press release said.

Canada is currently ranked 11th in the FIH World Ranking one position ahead of India.

<b>The Sqaud:</B>

<b>Goalkeepers:</B> Adrian D'Souza and Sreejesh PR.

<b>Defenders:</b> Sandeep Singh, V Raghunath, Sardar Singh Midfeilders: Gurbaj Singh, Vikram Pillay, Dhananjay Mahadik, Dharamvir Singh, Birendar Lakra Sr. and Danish Mujtaba.

<b>Forwards:</b> Bharat Chikara, Arjun Halappa, Tushar Khandker, Rajpal Singh, Gurvinder Singh Chandi, Prabhjot Singh S V Sunil, Shivendra Singh, Sarwanjit Singh, Roshan Minz, Amir Khan.

<b>Standbys:</b> Mandip Antil, Birendra Lakra Jr., Bharat Chetri, V S Vinaya, Ajitesh Roy.

<b>The Match Schedule:</b>

1st Test October 9th Victoria
2nd Test October 11th Victoria
3rd Test October 14th Vancouver
4th Test October 16th Vancouver
5th Test October 18th Vancouver
6th Test October 22nd Vancouver
7th Test October 24th Vancouver