Sardar Singh set to be picked for Sultan Azlan Shah Cup but future remains uncertain

The men's hockey team for the 2018 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup to be held next month will be out on Tuesday, with the focus on the future of Sardar Singh.

The 31-year-old former India captain has been in and out of the team lately, with his axing for the Hockey World League Finals last December a clear indication of which direction the team management under new coach Sjoerd Marijne is heading.

And although the star midfielder remains part of the core group of 33 players for the Commonwealth Games slated in April, Marijne and his think-tank have set their sights on a younger team going into the two big events later this year: Asian Games and FIH World Cup.

A national selector, who did not wish to be named, said the selection committee – which includes Marijne and Hockey India high performance director David John – has decided to have two different teams for the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup and the Commonwealth Games.

Sardar will almost certainly be part of the first team that will head to Malaysia, while his playing future after that remains bleak.

"The team's coaching group is very clear with their communication to us, that they want to go ahead with a fresher and younger team for the bigger tournaments this year," chairman of the HI selection committee, Harbinder Singh, said.

"The team's priority is to ensure direct qualification for the 2020 Olympics by winning the Asian Games (in August-September) and then the FIH World Cup in India (in November-December). The coaching staff has a bigger picture in mind, and that is with a young group, a lot of whom have tasted success in the 2016 Junior World Cup," he added.

This vision leaves Sardar in the lurch, though, who has made his wish of fighting on till the 2020 Games aptly clear.

John told DNA there will be three debutants in the team for the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, but refused to label the event as Sardar's ending chapter.

"Absolutely not. Every player that is selected has to perform to be selected for the next tournament. So, Sardar is under the same scrutiny as the other 17 players in the team. But we rule no player out of any tournament. If he keeps performing at a high level, he will still be part of the plans," he said.

Sardar's role has been switched from midfield to defence in the last few tournaments, but John confirmed that he will play as a midfielder in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup.