NEW DELHI : As part of the preparations for upcoming FIH Hockey World League Semi-Final (Men) 2015, India and Japan will face-off in a four-match Test Series, starting tomorrow at the Kalinga stadium in Bhubaneswar . After finishing third at the 24th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup recently, the Indian team is looking to continue their form and will try-out new strategies in the Series. With a 24-member squad, Chief Coach Paul van Ass aims to utilise all the players on the field and use new team-combinations in preparation for the World League Semi-Final Round. Knowing the fact that Japan has a strong forward line and their players very skilful with speed, Indian players have started analysing their previous games and working on various strategies to tackle them. India, ranked ninth in the FIH World Rankings has more strength than 16th ranked Japan, can not take the visitors lightly and will aim to utilise their full strength of the squad. Last time the two teams met in the 2013 AHF Asian Champions Trophy in Japan, the host team defeated India 2-1 in the tournament. The team management has called back a few young players, such as forward player Lalit Upadhyay, defender Yuvraj Walmiki and midfielder Pardeep Mor, in the senior team and have included them in their key game-plans against Japan. (AGENCIES)
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