FIH Men's Hockey Pro League 2022-23 Preview: India host world champions Germany and heavyweights Australia

The Men in Blue are currently fourth in the tournament standings with two wins from four matches.

India did not have a good start to the 2023 season, failing to reach the final stages at the FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup in Odisha, India. The shocking exit from the home World Cup saw head coach Graham Reid hand in his resignation ending a successful 18-month stay with the Men in Blue. Reid led India to a bronze medal finish at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. After a break of one month, the players will be back in action taking on World Champions Germany and Australia at the FIH Men's Hockey Pro League 2022-23. All three teams will meet each other twice in this leg.

The Stakes

India

Last year, India hosted New Zealand and Spain in the first leg of the FIH Men's Hockey Pro League. The hosts performed well, winning two matches against New Zealand and are currently in the fourth spot. India will be up against World Champions Germany and a formidable Australian side in the second leg.

Harmanpreet Singh’s side put up decent performances in the Australia test series, winning one and losing four matches. 2022 top scorer Harmanpreet Singh needs to find his mojo back and start scoring goals through penalty corners. Hardik Singh is back in the squad after suffering from a hamstring injury.

Australia

The Kookaburras are placed in the penultimate spot in the points table winning just one match from four encounters. Australia’s only victory came against Argentina and they lost the other two matches against Spain. It will be a tough test for Australia taking on champions Germany, who showed good resilience in the recently concluded World Cup.

Germany

Germany will come back with fresh memories after winning the World Cup in India. The Mats Grambusch-led German team is placed in the fifth spot with eight points from four games. India and Australia shall look to strengthen their defence, especially at the fag end of the game. In the previous leg, they clinched a 3-2 win against Belgium, while they defeated Argentina 3-0. In the reverse fixture, they lost against Belgium while managing a draw against Argentina.

Head-to-Head

India vs Germany Head to Head

Matches Played - 103India - 23Germany - 53Draw - 27

India vs Australia Head To Head

Matches Played - 135India won - 24Australia won - 91Matches Drawn - 21

Squads

India

PR Sreejesh, Pawan, Harmanpreet Singh, Jugraj Singh, Nilam Sanjeep Xess, Jarmanpreet Singh, Sumit, Manjeet, Manpreet Singh, Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Moirangthem Rabichandra Singh, Vishnukant Singh, Dilpreet Singh, Shamsher Singh, Raj Kumar Pal, S. Karthi, Sukhjeet Singh, Abhishek, Gurjant Singh

Australia

Anand Gupte, Tim Howard, Aran Zalewski, Jacob Whetton, Jake Harvie, Ben Staines, Davis Atkin, Nathan Ephraums, Joshua Beltz, James Collins, Hayden Beltz, Edward Ockenden, Lachlan Sharp, Craig Marais, Jayden Atkinson, Jacob Anderson, Jack Welch, Johan Durst, Ben Rennie, Ky Willott

Germany

Alexander Stadler, Antheus Barry, Constantin Staib, Elian Mazkour, Erik Kleinlein, Gonzalo Peillat, Hannes Müller, Jean Danneberg, Justus Weigand, Linus Müller, Malte Hellwig, Marco Miltkau, Martin Zwicker, Mathias Müller, Mats Grambusch, Michel Struthoff, Moritz Ludwig, Niklas Bosserhoff, Paul Kaufmann, Teo Hinrichs, Thies Prinz, Tom Grambusch

Where and how to watch live telecast and live streaming of FIH Men's Pro League 2022-23 matches in India?

Fans in India can watch the live telecast of all of India's matches in the FIH Men's Pro League 2022-23 on Star Sports Select 2 channels on their TV sets. Live streaming for the same will be available on Fancode for free.

India's full schedule and fixtures for Rourkela leg of FIH Men's Hockey Pro League 2022-23

March 10 - India vs Germany 

March 11 - Germany vs Australia 

March 12 - India vs Australia 

March 13 - India vs Germany

March 14 - Germany vs Australia 

March 15 - India vs Australia

All matches start at 07:00 PM (IST)