King's Cup: Subhasish Bose, Amrinder Singh dropped from Indian squad

The AIFF didn't mention any reason for dropping of these two important players from the King's Cup squad.

The Indian football team is poised to travel to Thailand to participate in the upcoming edition of the King's Cup, which will be held from September 7-10. Ahead of the tournament, Igor Stimac had named a 23-man squad that would be taken to Thailand for the competition during the international break.

The initial squad had some interesting absences from it, with Sunil Chhetri being kept out of it due to personal reasons. Now, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) has announced that two players who were initially named in the 23-man squad will not travel to Thailand for the King's Cup.

It has been officially announced that the travelling squad has been cut down to a 21-man squad, with Amrinder Singh and Subashish Bose not being taken with the national team for the upcoming matches.

There has been no real confirmation given about the reason behind them being kept out of the squad. The AIFF has not confirmed that they might have suffered injuries which has forced them to stay out of the team.

This also comes after Bose, who in particular, is coming off Mohun Bagan Super Giant’s Durand Cup 2023 wining campaign. The left-back featured in almost every single match and was the Mariners’ captain, leading them to their first Durand Cup title in over two decades.

Bose played all throughout the matches, playing out 90 minutes with the Mariners still in pre-season training. He also featured heavily in their AFC Cup qualifying clashes and was arguably one of the most match-fit players among those in the squad.

Despite that, he was kept out of the squad alongside Amrinder – who was one of the best goalkeepers in the Indian football scene over the 2022-23 campaign. Incidentally, both these players are poised to participate in the 2023-24 AFC Cup group stages when Mohun Bagan and Odisha FC clash against each other in the same group.

India will kickstart their 49th King's Cup campaign against Iraq on September 7. If they win that game, they will be able to book a spot in the final on September 10, where they will face the winners of the game between Thailand and Lebanon. If they lose it, they’ll take part in the third-place playoff game against the losers of the other game.