The newly-formed national hockey selection committee named a 22-strong squad, sans a fixed captain, for an away seven-match Test series against Canada next month.
Interestingly, the committee did not name a captain for the exposure trip, saying captaincy will rotate during the October 2-25 tour.
Sandeep Singh had led the Indian team on the 12-Test European tour recently.
The Canada tour will kick-off on October 9 and culminate on October 24.
"This tour is part of Hockey India's effort to provide comprehensive practice ahead of the Champions Challenge I tournament at Salta, Argentina in December and further build up for the World Cup at New Delhi in February-March next year," said a statement.
Canada is currently ranked 11th in the FIH rankings, one place ahead of India.
The squad:
Goalkeepers: Adrian D'Souza and Sreejesh PR.
Defenders: Sandeep Singh, V Raghunath, Sardar Singh.
Midfielders: Gurbaj Singh, Vikram Pillay, Dhananjay Mahadik, Dharamvir Singh, Birendar Lakra Sr. and Danish Mujtaba.
Forwards: Bharat Chikara, Arjun Halappa, Tushar Khandekar, Rajpal Singh, Gurvinder Singh Chandi, Prabhjot Singh, S V Sunil, Shivendra Singh, Sarwanjit Singh, Roshan Minz, Amir Khan.
Standbys: Mandip Antil, Birendra Lakra Jr., Bharat Chetri, V S Vinaya, Ajitesh Roy.
Match schedule:
1st Test: October 9, Victoria
2nd Test: October 11, Victoria
3rd Test: October 14, Vancouver
4th Test: October 16, Vancouver
5th Test: October 18, Vancouver
6th Test: October 22, Vancouver
7th Test: October 24, Vancouver.
