Indian squad for SAFF Cup announced; a couple of names have surprised everyone

THE INDIAN NATIONAL TEAM for the SAFF Championship 2015 has been announced, and a couple of names have raised eyebrows and piqued interests of fans around the country. 

A 20-member squad has been registered with the tournament authorities by Stephen Constantine and his staff, while 4 more players will stay back in Trivandrum in case an injury or some other issue necessitates a late national duty call-up for them.

The squad is missing some of its recent regulars like Sandesh Jhingan, Seityasen Singh, Cavin Lobo and Anas Edathodika, who have sustained injuries during or directly after ISL. 

The two names that have surprised everyone are that of 18 year old midfielder Lallrinzuala who is a member of the AIFF U-19 Academy. The youngster has made it into the final squad due to Anas pulling his hamstring. 

The other name is that of defender Kaushik Sarkar, who played for SAI (Kolkata) in the recently concluded Calcutta Football League. For someone to get into the the national team directly from the state league is a rare occurence; it's hard to recall anything like that happening since the National Football League was established back in 1997.

In the team list, coach Stephen Constantine has made good on his resolution to field a young squad in the SAFF Championship to hone them for the 2019 Asian Cup qualifiers. Whether or not his acolites will make full use of this rare opportunity bestowed on them remains to be seen. 

Goalkeepers: Subrata Paul, Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Karanjit Singh

Defenders: Aiborlang Khongjee, Lalchhuanmawia Fanai, Kaushik Sarkar, Arnab Mondal, Augustine Fernandes, Narayan Das, Pritam Kotal

Midfielders: Lallrinzuala, Rowlin Borges, Sanju Pradhan, Eugeneson Lyngdoh, Bikash Jairu, Pronay Halder

Forwards: Sunil Chhetri, Holicharan Narzary, Robin Singh, Jeje Lalpekhlua