New Delhi: The Indian Men's Hockey Team will begin its campaign at the Hero Asia Cup 2022 against rivals Pakistan at the GBK Sports Complex Hockey Stadium in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Monday. As the world awaits the blockbuster between the two arch-rivals, Team India - who are the defending champions - will be led by Olympic medallist Birendra Lakra with an experienced striker and a veteran of four Asia Cups, SV Sunil, as his deputy.


If we look at the previous games of both the teams, the defending champions will have to tactfully deal with the pressure when it opens its title defence against opponent Pakistan in the Asia Cup here on Monday.

While Pakistan has fielded quite a few new faces in the tournament, India will be represented by its A' team under the leadership of veteran Birendra Lakra, who came out of retirement after the Tokyo Olympics.

For India, the Asia Cup provides a platform to test its bench strength ahead of a busy season, that includes the Birmingham Commonwealth Games and the FIH World Cup next year for which the Tokyo Olympic medallists have already qualified as the host nation.

Pakistan, on the other hand, is looking at the tournament to make the cut for the 2023 World Cup in Bhubaneswar. The top three teams in Asia will qualify directly for the January showpiece.

Both India and Pakistan have won the Asia Cup thrice each.

India had won the last edition in 2017 by beating Malaysia in the final in Dhaka.

India's 20-member squad, to be coached by former captain Sardar Singh, was originally supposed to be led by Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist Rupinder Pal Singh, who also came out of retirement but a wrist injury ruled him out of the tournament.

The Indian squad includes another veteran in SV Sunil, who too returned from retirement and is regarded as a livewire on the field.

Sunil, who had missed the Tokyo Olympics squad due to an injury, will serve as Lakra's deputy.

The Indian team has as many as 10 players who are set to make their senior India debuts, including Yashdeep Siwach, Abhisek Lakra, Manjeet, Vishnukant Singh and Uttam Singh. They were all part of the junior World Cup.

Besides, the side also has new players like Mareeswaren Sakthivel, Sheshe Gowda BM, Pawan Rajbhar, Abharan Sudev and S Karthi and it remains to be seen how Sardar gets the best out of these youngsters.

The new players know that a good outing in the Asia Cup can open the doors for the Commonwealth Games team as the national selectors and chief coach Graham Reid would be closely following the proceedings.

For India, Simranjeet Singh, who was part of the Tokyo Olympics squad, will make a comeback in the forwardline after a long injury lay-off.

But the onus would be on the handful of seniors to guide the youngsters in the clash.

It (pressure) is always there (in Pakistan match). Any match against Pakistan is always charged up. But being seniors, if we become too excited, the junior players can come under pressure. So we need to take it as a normal match, India vice-captain Sunil said.

It is not an easy tournament but if we play according to our plan we can win. We need to motivate the youngsters, guide them and take them along. So there are big responsibilities on our shoulders.

Pakistan will be approaching the tournament after a mixed bag tour of Europe under new coach Siegfried Aikman, where the team played five matches -- two each against the Netherlands and Spain and one against Belgium -- out of which it won two.

With both the teams having youngsters, it remains to be seen how the players control their emotions and tempers on the turf.

After Pakistan, India will play Japan on Tuesday in the second Pool A match and hosts Indonesia on May 26.

Malaysia, Korea, Oman and Bangladesh are clubbed in Pool B.

In the other games on an opening day, Malaysia will play Oman and South Korea will take on Bangladesh in Pool B, while Japan will face Indonesia in Pool A.


Asia Cup 2022: India vs Pakistan — When and Where To Watch


Match: India vs Pakistan, Asia Cup Hockey 2022, Pool A


Date: May 23 (Monday), 2022


Time: 5:00 PM IST/ 18:30 PM (Local)


Venue: Gelora Bung Karno Sports Complex, Gelora, Central Jakarta, Indonesia.


TV Channels: Star Sports First, Star Sports Select 2/HD


LIVE Streaming: Disney+ Hotstar


India Squad


Goalkeepers: Pankaj Kumar Rajak, Suraj Karkera


Defenders: Yashdeep Siwach, Abhisek Lakra, Birendra Lakra (c), Manjeet, Dipsan Tirkey


Midfielders: Vishnukant Singh, Raj Kumar Pal, Mareeswaren Sakthivel, Sheshe Gowda BM, Simranjeet Singh


Forwards: Pawan Rajbhar, Abharan Sudev, SV Sunil (vc), Uttam Singh, S. Karthi;


Replacements: Maninder Singh, Nilam Sanjeep Xess


Standbys: Pawan, Pardeep Singh, Ankit Pal, Angad Bir Singh.


Head Coach: Sardar Singh 


Pakistan Squad 


Goalkeepers: Akmal Hussain, Abdullah Ishtiaq Khan


Defenders:  Mubashir Ali, Emad Shakeel Butt, Hamaduddin Anjum, Muhammad Abdullah, Rizwan Ali


Midfielders: Umar Bhatta (c), Ali Shan, Moin Shakeel, Abdul Hanan, Junaid Manzoor, Ghazanfar Ali


Forwards: Abu Bakar Mahmood, Ejaz Ahmed, Rana Abdul Waheed, Muhammad Salman Razzaq, Roman, Afraz, Abdul Hanan Shahid


Head Coach: Siegfried Aikman 


(with PTI inputs)