New Delhi, Sep 25 (IANS): Midfielder Manpreet Singh, who has made a comeback in the Indian hockey team following an injury, said that playing in New Zealand will be a tough challenge for them.

India will tour New Zealand from October 2 to 11 to play the Black Sticks in a four-match bilateral Test series. The series will be preceded by two practice games against New Zealand A.

"We have prepared a lot for the upcoming New Zealand tour and are pretty excited about the tournament. The coach is also making us work a lot harder during our preparations, helping to improve on penalty corner conversions and our defence," said Manpreet, who plays as a centre-half.

"We are working on rectifying our mistakes as we would not want to repeat them in the upcoming tournament. Playing on the opponent's home ground will be a tough challenge for us but we are confident of a positive result."

India will play their first match against New Zealand A on October 2 in Auckland.