Injured Borges, Poojary out of Asian Cup qualifier

Midfield mainstay Rowllin Borges and youngster Nikhil Poojary have been ruled out of India's AFC Asian Cup qualifier against Myanmar on Monday.

Head coach Stephen Constantine, who announced a 28-member probables list for the tie which will be played on November 14 in Goa, will be forced to go without the two regulars owing to various injuries.

While Poojary is set to miss the new season to a knee injury, Borges suffered a hamstring injury during the pre-season with his Indian Super League (ISL) side North East United FC and could miss the initial part of the season that gets underway on November 17. The squad will have a camp in Mumbai till November 11 before proceeding to Goa the next day.

India have already qualified for the 2019 edition of the Asian Cup and sit pretty on top of Group 'A' with 12 points from four wins so far. But that hasn't made Constantine take his foot off the paddle. "We may have already qualified, but that does not mean we will take this game lightly," he said. "It's time to work hard again and I am looking forward to working with the boys."

The last time the two teams met in Yangon, a Sunil Chhetri goal was the difference between the two sides.

The squad: Goalkeepers: Subrata Paul, Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Amrinder Singh, Vishal Kaith; Defenders: Pritam Kotal, Lalruathatthara, Anas Edathodika, Sandesh Jhingan, Salam Ranjan Singh, Sarthak Golui, Jerry Lalrinzuala, Narayan Das; Midfielders: Jackichand Singh, Udanta Singh, Pronay Halder, Anirudh Thapa, Germanpreet Singh, Eugeneson Lyngdoh, Md. Rafique, Bikash Jairy, Halicharan Narzary; Forwards: Sunil Chhetri, Jeje Lalpekhlua, Allen Deory, Hitesh Sharma, Balwant Singh.