A battle royal is in the offing as the hosts and crowd favourite India commence their campaign, taking on Spain in the 15th Hockey World Cup at the newly constructed Birsa Munda Stadium here on Friday evening.

Before this match, the blue turf at the stadium will come alive with strong contender England facing debutant Wales in the first Group D match of the Hockey World Cup.

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In the most recent FIH World Rankings, England has surpassed India to take fifth place, while India is sixth, with Spain and Wales in eighth and fifteenth place, respectively.

Both India and Spain have played in every edition of the World Cup in tandem with Germany and the Netherlands since the tournament’s inception at Barcelona in 1971.

In their six previous World Cup clashes India have won twice against Redsticks, while the Spanish side has won thrice, the last match in the 2014 edition at The Hague ended in a 1-1 draw.

In the ongoing FIH Pro League the two squads won a match apiece last November-December, with India winning the second one from the shootout. Spain have retained fifteen players from that squad while India have made five changes to their eighteen members squad.

Even though India will depend heavily on the penalty corner marksmanship of skipper Harmanpreet Singh, the absence of another world class drag flicker may be sorely felt.

The squad also has Varun Kumar, Amit Rohidas and Nilam Sanjeep Xess in their ranks but they do not enjoy the reputation of topnotch quality flickers. It is however hoped that there would be an improvement on their conversion skills after a short camp in late December at Bengaluru with twice Dutch Olympic Gold medallist Bram Lomans.

The home team’s midfield will be marshalled by former skipper Manpreet Singh, who is playing in his third World Cup with 314 caps.

The 22-year-old Vivek Sagar Prasad, who has won the FIH Young Player of the Year twice along with Railwayman Nilakanta Sharma, Hardik Singh, Shamsher Singh, and wily striker Akashdeep Singh, who is also playing in his third World Cup, are all making their comeback in national colours as overlapping attacking midfielders.

Mandeep Singh, with 96 goals, will channel the strike force alongside the Punjab National Bank duo of Abhishek and Sukhjeet Singh, as well as Lalit Upadhyay, who is back after injury.

Sreejesh, as the senior most member, will again be the go-to man for the home team. The 34-year-old Kerala Sports Officer will be the last line of defence alongside Krishan Pathak, who has been fielded by coach Graham Reid in every alternate playing quarter for a long time.

The two goalies, who have 354 caps between them with Sreejesh accounting for 274 of them, were recently fine-tuned by Dennis van de Pol from the Dutch Drijver Goalie Academy.

Head coach Graham Reid is working hard to get the best out of the group, injecting a tactical discipline into their trademark skillful, fluid style of play, making them a team both respected and feared in equal measure.

Spain, like India, also has three podium finishes but no golds. With two runners-up and a bronze medal finisher, they have midfielders Alvaro Iglesias and Marc Miralles as co-captains.

The goal will be manned by experienced Mario Garin, with the deep defence under the charge of Club de Campo’s Ignacio Rodriguez, Alejandro Alonso, and 23-year-old Pau Cunill, who is also the first-choice flicker.

The Spanish offensive armada will be spearheaded by Enrique Gonzalez, Rotterdam striker Joaquin Menini, and Marc Reyne from Real Club de Polo Barcelona. The Los Angeles Red Sticks will have to recover from the humiliation of finishing 13th in the previous edition in Bhubaneswar in 2018.

They are known for their flair, skill, and attacking prowess and are one of the most talented and unpredictable teams out there, having proven on countless occasions that, on their day, they can mix it with the very best teams in the world.

Last year in August, the RedSticks showed strong form at the recent Euro Hockey Championship Qualifier competition on home soil in Orense, beating the Czech Republic, Portugal, and Poland to seal their ticket to the 2023 Euro Hockey Championship.

The team scored 20 times without conceding in that competition, with Pau Cunill, Gabriel Iglesias, and former Argentina international and 2016 Olympic gold medalist Joaquin Menini each scoring three times.

They followed that success with a superb start to their 2022–23 FIH Pro League campaign by going unbeaten in their first four games, claiming notable victories over New Zealand and India in matches that took place in the World Cup host city of Bhubaneswar.

They have come here after having played six internationals against World Cup-qualified teams at San Fernando last month before final pre-departure conditioning at Alicante.

Coach Maximiliano Caldas from Argentina, who switched over after coaching the Netherlands squad, said, “We are a very diverse group with youth and experience.”

“The preparation has gone as we wanted, and we are prepared for what is coming to us, including playing against India in a stadium with 20,000 people.” Captain Alvaro Iglesias said, “I see only positive things and ambition in this team.” “And we have many rookies who come from the U-21 who give us a lot of energy.”

On Friday morning at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, former Olympic champion Argentina will clash with spirited South Africa in the pool “A” fixture. Former champion Australia will face France in the second match of the group and day.