Hockey India has named a strong 18-member squad under the captaincy of Manpreet Singh for the Asia Cup to be held in Dhaka from October 11 to 22. Sunil has been named deputy to Manpreet. Veteran midfielder Sardar Singh has returned to the national team. Sardar, recently awarded the prestigious Khel Ratna Award, was dropped from the Indian team which toured Europe last month but got a recall for next month's event to strengthen the team. India feature in Pool A alongside Japan, hosts Bangladesh and Pakistan. They will start their campaign against Japan on October 11 before facing Bangladesh on October 13. The team will play their third and final league match against arch-rivals Pakistan on October 15. India had finished runners-up to South Korea in the last edition in Ipoh in 2013.