<p>Rajpal yesterday replaced Sandeep Singh as the skipper of the 22-member Indian team for eight-nation event in Salta, Argentina from December 6-13, the winner of which will qualify for next year's Champions Trophy.<br />But soon after his appointment he made it clear that India would be using the tournament to finetune their skills and strategies before the next year's World Cup.<br />"It's a crucial tournament for us as we will be playing with a new planning. A new style of hockey will be seen as we will be mixing the European and Indian style during the tournament," Rajpal said from Pune.<br />"The winner of this tournament will qualify for the Champions Trophy and so the competition will be tough, but we are eyeing only victory.<br />"With World Cup coming up shortly, a lot is going to be at stake for us in this tournament. We will also know how we fare against a particular team and where we need to improve so that we can set our target for right," he said. <br /><br />Rajpal said the team thinktank's decision to mix Indian and European style of hockey yielded fruitful results during the Canada tour and would give them an edge in the event.<br />"The team played really well in Canada. We are hoping that except for Canada this new approach should surprise our opponents and give us the advantage," the 25-year-old forward said.<br />"We are now playing well. In every match, a team has to adopt a different approach. In 2007 Asia Cup which we won 7-2 against Korea, all the goals were field goals and in some other matches, we score through short corners," he added.<br />Rajpal also said that chief coach Jose Brasa's tactics of rotating the captaincy was an innovative move, which was producing encouraging results.<br />"Coach Brasa has been working on this experiment and I feel it is a positive one. This way, every player will feel he can be entrusted with the responsibility. This can only better a players' game," he said.<br />India will play their first group match against New Zealand on December 6 before taking on China (December 8) and Belgium (December 10). The final will be played on December 13.<br />The Indian team will leave for Madrid on November 23 for a one-week training-cum-competition tour en-route Salta. <br /><br /></p>
<p>Rajpal yesterday replaced Sandeep Singh as the skipper of the 22-member Indian team for eight-nation event in Salta, Argentina from December 6-13, the winner of which will qualify for next year's Champions Trophy.<br />But soon after his appointment he made it clear that India would be using the tournament to finetune their skills and strategies before the next year's World Cup.<br />"It's a crucial tournament for us as we will be playing with a new planning. A new style of hockey will be seen as we will be mixing the European and Indian style during the tournament," Rajpal said from Pune.<br />"The winner of this tournament will qualify for the Champions Trophy and so the competition will be tough, but we are eyeing only victory.<br />"With World Cup coming up shortly, a lot is going to be at stake for us in this tournament. We will also know how we fare against a particular team and where we need to improve so that we can set our target for right," he said. <br /><br />Rajpal said the team thinktank's decision to mix Indian and European style of hockey yielded fruitful results during the Canada tour and would give them an edge in the event.<br />"The team played really well in Canada. We are hoping that except for Canada this new approach should surprise our opponents and give us the advantage," the 25-year-old forward said.<br />"We are now playing well. In every match, a team has to adopt a different approach. In 2007 Asia Cup which we won 7-2 against Korea, all the goals were field goals and in some other matches, we score through short corners," he added.<br />Rajpal also said that chief coach Jose Brasa's tactics of rotating the captaincy was an innovative move, which was producing encouraging results.<br />"Coach Brasa has been working on this experiment and I feel it is a positive one. This way, every player will feel he can be entrusted with the responsibility. This can only better a players' game," he said.<br />India will play their first group match against New Zealand on December 6 before taking on China (December 8) and Belgium (December 10). The final will be played on December 13.<br />The Indian team will leave for Madrid on November 23 for a one-week training-cum-competition tour en-route Salta. <br /><br /></p>