Talismanic striker Sunil Chhetri returns to the Indian football team after a gap of six months, while young centre-forward Ishan Pandita is also back with the Blue Tigers.
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Indian football team head coach Igor Stimac has named a 25-man squad for India’s upcoming international friendly match against Jordan. The Blue Tigers will play the match in Doha, Qatar on Saturday, May 28, as part of their preparations for the AFC Asian Cup third round qualifiers. Under the tutelage of the Croatian tactician the boys have been preparing for qualifiers since the beginning of the month, first in Bellary and then in Kolkata. India also played three practice matches in Kolkata against ATK Mohun Bagan, I-League All-stars XI and the Bengal Santosh Trophy team.
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Talismanic striker Sunil Chhetri returned to the Indian football team after a gap of six months. The Bengaluru FC-man last played for India during the 3-0 win over Nepal in the SAFF Championship final in October but since then was sidelined due to injuries. Besides Chhetri, Ishan Pandita has also made a comeback in the forward line at the cost of VP Suhair and Rahim Ali. 23-year-old Pandita is surely one to watch out for as Chhetri is not getting any younger at 37 and Pandita is the only notable centre-forward in the squad.
कल. आज. और कल. pic.twitter.com/Vbp9UPpLv4
— Sunil Chhetri (@chetrisunil11) May 1, 2022
In the midfield, Ritwik Das is a new-comer, while Udanta Singh, Sahal Abdul Samad and Ashique Kuruniyan were included with Pronay Halder and Danish Bhat being the notable omissions. The defence has lots of experience with youthful exuberance. Rahul Bheke, Sandesh Jhingan, Harmanjot Khabra, Pritam Kotal and Subhashish Bose are the experienced candidates while Roshan Singh, Akash Mishra and Anwar Ali are the young guns in the back-line. 33-year-old Khabra is returning to the national team after a gap of almost 5 years.
The Blue Tigers will leave for Doha on May 25, where they will continue their training before taking on Jordan. After the friendly, the team is set to return to Kolkata on May 30, before resuming their training for the AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers . The Indian team last took to the field at the end of March when they played Bahrain and Belarus in two international friendlies in Bahrain. Although Stimac’s men lost both the matches, the Croatian coach used the opportunity to test many youngsters who had excelled during the 2021-22 Indian Super League season.
Goalkeepers: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Laxmikanth Kattimani, Amrinder Singh.
Defenders: Rahul Bheke, Akash Mishra, Harmanjot Singh Khabra, Roshan Singh, Anwar Ali, Sandesh Jhingan, Subhashish Bose, Pritam Kotal.
Midfielders: Jeakson Singh, Anirudh Thapa, Glan Martins, Brandon Fernandes, Ritwik Das, Udanta Singh, Yasir Mohammad, Sahal Abdul Samad, Suresh Wangjam, Ashique Kuruniyan, Liston Colaco.
Forwards: Ishan Pandita, Sunil Chhetri, Manvir Singh
