HYDERABAD, Jan 5: At least 13 foreign players, including Pakistan's penalty corner specialist Sohail Abbas will take part in Indian Premier Hockey League (PHL), billed as mega hockey event of the year, starting here from Jan 13.

"We have made many innovations and new format will provide a different kind of dynamics on the field," Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) President, K P S Gill said while releasing list of PHL Tier-I teams.

Five teams - Hyderabad Sultans with Dilip Tirkey as captain, Bangalore Hi-Fliers led by Arjun Halappa, Sher-e-Jalandhar with Gagan Ajit Singh at helm, Maratha Warriors led by Viren Rasquinha and Chennai Veerans headed by Ignace Tirkey - will be playing month-long round robin league matches.

Besides Sohail, who holds record of scoring highest number Of goals in international hockey, Juan Pablo Escarre of Spain, Wasim Ahmed, Ahmed Alam, Dilawar Hussain, Kashif Jawwad, Muddassar Ali Khan, Zeeshan Ashraf, Ali Raza, Mohammed Saqlain, Mohd Sarwar (all Pakistan), Kuhan Shanmuganathan and Nor Azlan Bakar (both Malaysia) have confirmed their participation, he said.

Two more foreign players are likely to join the league, Gill said adding, next year no country (hockey playing) will go un represented as "our efforts are to popularise hockey through live telecast and increasing frequency of matches to give more exposure to players and viewers as well." -PPI