22-man hockey squad for Canada tour

The newly-formed national hockey selection committee named a 22-strong squad, sans a fixed captain, for an away seven-match Test series against Canada next month.

Interestingly, the committee did not name a captain for the exposure trip, saying captaincy will rotate during the October 2-25 tour.

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

The Canada tour will kick-off on October 9 and 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," said a statement.

Canada is currently ranked 11th in the FIH rankings, one place ahead of India.

The squad:

Goalkeepers: Adrian D'Souza and Sreejesh PR.

Defenders: Sandeep Singh, V Raghunath, Sardar Singh.

Midfielders: Gurbaj Singh, Vikram Pillay, Dhananjay Mahadik, Dharamvir Singh, Birendar Lakra Sr. and Danish Mujtaba.

Forwards: Bharat Chikara, Arjun Halappa, Tushar Khandekar, Rajpal Singh, Gurvinder Singh Chandi, Prabhjot Singh, S V Sunil, Shivendra Singh, Sarwanjit Singh, Roshan Minz, Amir Khan.

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

Match schedule:

1st Test: October 9, Victoria

2nd Test: October 11, Victoria

3rd Test: October 14, Vancouver

4th Test: October 16, Vancouver

5th Test: October 18, Vancouver

6th Test: October 22, Vancouver

7th Test: October 24, Vancouver.