India coach Jamil positive ahead of his first challenge

There were no surprises in Khalid Jamil's first interaction with the media and the first set of India players he named as head coach, both of which happened on Monday. India will play the CAFA Nations Cup with little time to prepare and without the seven Mohun Bagan players but Jamil decided not to make a big deal of either.

- HT Correspondent

Instead, he chose to strike a positive note. “It is a big challenge for me. I have got what I wanted. For me now the task is to deliver,” said Jamil in Bengaluru where India have been training for the past 10 days. “Let us go step by step. The matches will give us an idea of where we need to improve and will help us in the three qualifiers (of the 2027 Asian Cup).”

Hosts Tajikistan and Iran, two of the opponents in the CAFA Nations Cup, are higher in the FIFA rankings and Jamil said it was good that they were playing stronger teams. India open against Tajikistan on Friday, play Iran on Sept 1 and Afghanistan three days later in Group B in Hisor, about 25km form the capital Dushanbe.

Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Oman are in the other group. The group winners will play the final and the second-placed teams for the third place.