The men's Hockey India League is all set to restart from December 28 with Team Gonasika taking on Delhi SG Pipers at Rourkela's Birsa Munda International Hockey Stadium. Ahead of the opener, here's a look at all the eight teams, including the captains, full squad and players who pulled out from the tournament.
Delhi SG Pipers
Best player: Shamsher Singh. India's midfield maestro will also be the captain of his franchise.
Captain(s): Shamsher Singh and Jake Whetton.
Coach: Graham Reid.
Squad details:
Goalkeepers: Pawan, Adarsh G, Rennie Benjamin.
Defenders: Joginder Singh, Gareth Furlong, Rohit, Jarmanpreet Singh.
Midfielders: Shamsher Singh, Thokcho, Kingson Singh, Ankit Pal, Manjeet, Ky Willot, Lucas Toscani, Raj Kumar Pal, Jake Whetton.
Forwards: Tomas Domene, Iktidar Ishrat, Koji Yamasaki, Aaditya Lalage, Sumit Kumar, Dilraj Singh, Sourabh Anand Kushwaha.
Big names who pulled out: Tomas Santiago, Christopher Ruhr, Pau Clapes, Jorrit Croon, Nicolas de Kerpel and Flynn Ogilvie are out.
Prediction: The team that was picked at auction is significantly different now considering the pull outs. Might be tough to make it to the semifinals.
Hyderabad Toofans
Best player: Germany's Gonzalo Piellat. The master dragflicker is one of world's lethal when it comes to penalty corner conversions.
Captain: Sumit.
Coach: Pasha Gademan.
Squad details:
Goalkeepers: Vikas Dahiya, Dominic Dixon, Bikramjit Singh.
Defenders: Akshay Ravindra Avhad, Mukul Sharma, Amandeep Lakra, Devindar Walmiki, Gonzalo Peillat, Arthur de Sloover, Jacob Anderson, Sundram Singh Rajawat.
Midfielders: Zach Wallace, Rajinder Singh, Darshan Vibhav Gawkar, Nic Woods, Rahim Aakib Sayyed, Maico Casella, Sumit, Nilakanta Sharma.
Forwards: Timothy Daniel, Shilanand Lakra, Rohit Singh Irengbam, Talwinder Singh, Arshdeep Singh.
Big names who pulled out: Jean-Paul Danneberg, Terrance Pieters and Matthew Dawson are out.
Prediction: A lot will depend on the form of Wallace and Piellat, will struggle to make it to top four.
Shrachi Rarh Bengal Tigers
Best player: Abhishek. India's best forward.
Captain: Rupinder Pal Singh.
Coach: Colin Batch from Australia.
Squad details:
Goalkeepers: Atal Dev Singh Chahal, Jamie Carr, Ali Khan.
Defenders: Jasjit Singh Kular, Gauthier Boccard, Sebastien Dockier, Rupinder Pal Singh, Jugraj Singh.
Midfielders: Sean Findlay, Yogesh Singh, Jaskaran Singh, Pardeep Mor, Affan Yousuf, Tim Cross, Poovanna CB, Atul Deep, Pardeep Singh Sandhu, Thounaojam Ingalemba Luwang.
Forwards: Florent Van Aubel, Same Lane, Gursewak Singh, Sukhjeet Singh, Abhishek.
Big names who pulled out: Pirmin Blaak, Tom Grambusch and Lachlan Sharp are out.
Prediction: Can make it to semifinals if attack delivers.
Soorma Hockey Club
Best player: India's best Harmanpreet Singh.
Captain: Harmanpreet Singh.
Coach: Jeroen Baart.
Squad details:
Goalkeepers: Mohith HS, Vincent Vanasch, Jashandeep Singh.
Defenders: Gurinder Singh, Ashu Maurya, Pradip Mandal, Nicolas Della Torre, Jeremy Hayward, Sukhvinder, Harmanpreet Singh.
Midfielders: Vivek Sagar Prasad, Ankush, Victor Wegnez, Prabhjot Singh, Sunit Lakra, Harjeet Singh, Nicolas Poncelet.
Forwards: Nicolas Keenan, Boris Burkhardt, Harish Somappa Mutagar, Phil Roper, Pawan Rajbhar, Gurjant Singh, Maninder Singh.
Big names who pulled out: Jonas de Geus is out.
Prediction: Goalscorers in Harmanpreet and Hayward and a world class goalkeeper in Vanasch. Will make it to top four.
Tamil Nadu Dragons
Best player: Jip Janssen, the dragflick expert from the Netherlands.
Captain: Amit Rohidas.
Coach: Rein van Eijk.
Squad details:
Goalkeepers: David Harte, S Senthamizh Arasu, Prince Deep Singh.
Defenders: Jip Janssen, Prince Deep Singh, Kothajit Singh, Anand Lakra, GM Pruthvi, Moritz Ludwig, Y Anand, Amit Rohidas.
Midfielders: Chandan Yadav, Blake Govers, Thomas Sorsby, Shesha Gowda, M Dhilipan, J Arun, Tom Craig, Mohd. Raheel.
Forwards: Martin Zwicker, Abharan Sudev, Karthi Selvam, Ganesh Majji, Nathan Ephraums, Uttam Singh.
Big names who pulled out: Duco Telgenkamp, Thies Prinz are out.
Prediction: There's plenty of international experience in the squad, will make it to top four.
Team Gonasika
Best player: Manpreet Singh - India's midfield general with plenty of experience.
Captain: Manpreet Singh.
Coach: Paul Revington.
Squad details:
Goalkeepers: Oliver Payne, Kamalbir Singh, Suraj Karkera.
Defenders: Tim Howard, Dipsan Tirkey, Sanjeep Nilam Xess, Birendra Lakra, Anmol Ekka, Yogember Rawat, Amir Ali.
Midfielders: Jacob Draper, Yashdeep Siwach, Jack Waller, Timothee Clement, Lee Mortan, Vishnukant Singh, SK Uthappa, Manpreet Singh.
Forwards: Nikkin Thimmaiah, SV Sunil, Struan Walker, Victor Charlet, Araijeet Singh Hundal, Mandeep Singh.
Big names who pulled out: Jeroen Hertzberger, Tom Boon and Mustapha Cassiem are out.
Prediction: A big player like Tom Boon is missing, will struggle to make it to top four.
UP Rudras
Best player: Hardik Singh, one of world's best midfielders.
Captain: Hardik Singh.
Coach: Paul van Ass.
Squad details: Goalkeepers: Pankaj Kumar Rajak, James Mazarello, Prashant Kumar Chauhan.
Defenders: James Albery, Lars Balk, Surender Kumar, Sunil Jojo, Kane Russell, Prashant Barla, Shardanand Tiwari, Priyobarta Talem.
Midfielders: Manmeet Singh, Jobanpreet Singh, Simranjeet Singh, Rafael Vilallonga, Floris Wortelboer, Hardik Singh, Akashdeep Singh.
Forwards: Sudeep Chirmako, Sam Ward, Tanguy Cosyns, Mohd. Zaid Khan, Gurjot Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay.
Big names who pulled out: Seve van Ass, Marc Recasens and Alvaro Iglesias are out.
Prediction: Unlikely to make it to top four.
Vedanta Kalinga Lancers
Best player: Alexander Hendrickx of Belgium, a world class dragflicker.
Captain: Aran Zaleswski.
Coach: Valentin Altenburg.
Squad details:
Goalkeepers: Sahil Kumar Nayak, Toby Reynolds-Cotterill, Krishan Bahadur Pathak.
Defenders: Sushil Dhanwar, Antoine Kina, Partap Lakra, Arthur Van Doren, Enrique Gonzalez, Rohit Kullu, Alexander Hendricxx, Mandeep Mor, Sanjay.
Midfielders: Aran Zalewski, Rosan Kujur, Rabichandra Moirangthem, Nicholas Bandurak, Mukesh Toppo.
Forwards: Roshan Minz, Gursahibjit Singh, Angad Bir Singh, Deepak Pradhan, Thierry Brinkmann, Dilpreet Singh, Boby Singh Dhami.
Big names who pulled out: No foreigners have pulled out.
Prediction: Squad didn't look great at the auction but considering the pull outs at other teams, Kalinga have a good chance at top four.