Which players have been excluded from India's World Cup Qualifiers squad?

These players either failed to live up to the expectations of the coach or are injured.

Igor Stimac has announced a provisional 35-member squad ahead of India’s upcoming FIFA World Cup 2026 Qualifiers against Afghanistan in the March international break. The Blue Tigers will travel to face the Lions of Kharosam (in Saudi Arabia) on March 21 and then host them at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium, Guwahati on March 26.

The squad is filled with most of the names which were in India’s AFC Asian Cup 2023 squad. There are some interesting new names in the probables list as well.

Notably, two Odisha FC defenders have also been included in the squad for their encouraging performances for the ISL leaders.

Who Have Been Excluded?

With that being said, there are some interesting names missing from the previous World Cup qualifiers – the 1-0 win over Kuwait and 3-0 loss to Qatar in November. Here we look at them.

Sandesh Jhingan

Jhingan suffered heartbreak at the AFC Asian Cup and ended up suffering an awful knee injury in the final game against Syria. That injury has ruled him out for the rest of the 2023/24 season, meaning he won’t be able to play in the March qualifiers and will be in a test against time to be fit enough for the next set of games in June.

Udanta Singh

Udanta failed to prove his quality for the Indian team in the AFC Asian Cup and the previous qualifying games, not being able to make much of an impact. He was very underwhelming in the Asian Cup and has failed to impress in the ISL either. Singh has only scored one goal and provided one assist in 17 appearances this season, only starting nine matches and without a goal contribution in 11 ISL games. His poor form sees him dropped from the squad.

Rohit Kumar

Rohit Kumar has not been able to replicate his heroics from last season, which saw him earn a place in the Indian side for the last set of qualifiers. He has been quite underwhelming in the ISL this season, being restricted to only four starts and not being able to get a single goal contribution.

Stimac is, of course, going to trim down this provisional 35-man squad after assessing the quality and ability of the players in the initial training camps before flying out to Saudi Arabia for the World Cup qualifier. The final ISL game before the March break sees FC Goa host Bengaluru FC on March 14, after which the league will go on a break until the end of the international window.

The final India squad for the upcoming qualifiers is likely to be announced a week or so before the first qualifying game against Afghanistan, and all the players in the provisional squad will have to work hard and prove their worth to Stimac to remain in the final group for the matches.

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