The Indian men's national team has announced the 25-member squad that will travel to Bahrain to play friendly matches against the home team and Belarus. Igor Stimac had earlier announced a list of 38 probables who were training in Pune from March 10.

The Blue Tigers will face the hosts, Bahrain, on March 23 and Belarus on March 26. Both the matches are set to kick-off at 9.30 P.M (IST). The squad is expected to fly to Bahrain today.

The two friendlies are part of the team’s preparation for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers in June, later this year.

India will be playing all of their 2023 AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers matches in Kolkata, from June 8 onwards. The Blue Tigers are placed with Afghanistan, Hong Kong, and Cambodia in Group D.

The 24 teams are divided into six groups and group toppers along with the five best second-placed teams will make the cut for the showpiece event.

The list of 25 members is as follows:

GOALKEEPERS: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Amrinder Singh, Prabhshukhan Gill.

DEFENDERS: Pritam Kotal, Seriton Fernandes, Rahul Bheke, Hormipam Ruivah, Sandesh Jhingan, Chinglensana Singh, Akash Mishra, Roshan Singh, Subhasish Bose, Anwar Ali.

MIDFIELDERS: Anirudh Thapa, Pronay Halder, Jeakson Singh, Brandon Fernandes, VP Suhair, Yasir Mohammad, Aniket Jadav, Bipin Singh, Danish Farooq.

FORWARDS: Manvir Singh, Liston Colaco, Rahim Ali.