Qualifying for Asian Cup should be our bare minimum target, asserts India football team captain Gurpreet Singh Sandhu

With India taking on Malaysia in an international friendly in the midst of an intensive Indian Super League (ISL) season, the Indian players have their hands full, but skipper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu is confident of a successful end to the year for the national football team.

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Gurpreet Singh Sandhu is now into his 13th year of national team duty. The most experienced player in the Indian squad after Sunil Chhetri's retirement, he completed a diamond jubilee of international caps (75) against Vietnam last month, wearing the captain's armband and crucially saving a penalty.

Currently training in Hyderabad with the Blue Tigers ahead of the friendly against Malaysia on 18 November, Sandhu shared his thoughts on the preparations during a media interaction on Wednesday. "Everyone knows this is our last FIFA friendly window before the all-important Asian Cup Qualifiers in March. So, it's very important for us to make the most of this opportunity. We are happy to have a familiar face in Sandesh Jhingan coming back. It's great to see that he's recovered well and has already played a couple of games (for FC Goa)."