Arjun Halappa

Hyderabad: After a brief stint of practice session at the Gachibowli Stadium here on Tuesday, a confident looking Indian contingent left for Malaysia to take part in the Azlan Shah hockey tournament to commence in Kaula Lampur on Thursday.

The Dilip Tirkey-led team would bank on experience of Len Aiyappa and Arjun Hallappa in the absence of formidable mid-fielders Viren Rasquinha and Vikram Pillay.

India would be looking for a couple of good matches to improve their position in the prestigious seven-nation tournament as it had finished at the bottom in the previous edition.

Len Aiyappa

New coach Rajinder Singh (Jr) dismissed that absence of some senior members in the side would have a bearing on the performance of the side.

“Everyone has to contribute. We can also rely on our strikers as we have a good forward line”, he said.

Mid-field was however appeared a bit weak with both Rasquinha and Pillay being out. Skipper Tirkey said though it was a matter of concern, he had the confidence that other players would live upto the expectations.