A fortnight ahead of the World League semi-finals in London, the Indian men's hockey team will embark on a three-nation tournament in Dusseldorf, Germany that involves the hosts and 2016 Rio Olympics silver-medalists Belgium.
This will be a crucial tournament for India in many ways, not least because it offers them a chance to play four matches against higher-ranked opposition in their own conditions in the span of seven days.
Here are some of the things to watch out for, especially before India open their campaign against Belgium on June 2.
India back to almost full strength
Barring goalkeeping, where injury will keep PR Sreejesh out of the tournaments in both Dusseldorf and London, the team selection indicates an attempt to bring in more experience, especially compared to the youthful team that went to Ipoh, Malaysia and won bronze at the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in April.
Defender Kothajit Singh, midfielders Satbir Singh and SK Uthappa and striker Ramandeep Singh return to the team, which has meant no place for junior World Cup winning team members Sumit and Gurinder Singh, as well as young forward Affan Yousuf.
Designated captain Manpreet Singh defended the team's performance in Ipoh, saying, "Mistakes are a part of the game. We cannot say that if a player is giving 100 passes, all of them should be right. We need to move on from those mistakes."
Uthappa's return will also bolster the attacking line, which seemed heavily reliant on Mandeep Singh in Ipoh. Mandeep was also one of India's best performers at the Champions Trophy in London last June, and he would enjoy returning to the continent where he has given the team some memorable performances over the last couple of years.
Tactically different India get a new challenge
SV Sunil and head coach Roeland Oltmans have both stressed in recent times how India's aim is to attack selectively and not want "possession just for the sake of possession".
While India kept control over both the ball and the pace of play in most of their matches, their finishing was lacking. Worryingly, even their penalty-corner conversion was not at its best in Malaysia.
With Rupinder Pal Singh pairing up again alongside Harmanpreet Singh at the heart of defence, these matches will provide a useful opportunity to gauge the improvement since April, especially with the inclusion this year of Arjun Halappa and Jugraj Singh in the support staff alongside Oltmans.
Striker Ramandeep Singh must bring his experience to the fore and be a good enough foil for Mandeep in the opposition half. Mandeep's record of 28 goals from 67 matches speaks for itself, and he must get enough help from Ramandeep, who has 27 goals from 86 games for India.
A chance to identify Sreejesh's replacement
For the last three years, every major Indian performance at an international competition has come with Sreejesh under the bar. It was, therefore, more of a surprise for reserve goalkeeper Akash Chikte himself when he was pressed into action early in the match against Australia in Ipoh after Sreejesh injured himself following a collision with Eddie Ockenden.
Chikte and junior World Cup winner Vikas Dahiya are the designated goalkeepers for the tournaments in Germany and England, and Oltmans has indicated that both will get game time. This is not the first tour for either 22-year-old Dahiya or 20-year-old Chikte, but with their combined total of 28 caps less than a sixth of Sreejesh, this will give them an ideal opportunity to stake a claim to be a longer-term stand-in goalkeeper for Sreejesh.
"We can't let his absence be felt," Dahiya told ESPN before leaving for Dusseldorf. "Akash and I have had a chat that this could be the start of our career."
A warm-up for bigger tests ahead
India are going to host the World League Final in Bhubaneswar in December, a tournament that will serve as a qualifier for the 2018 World Cup, also to be hosted at the Kalinga Stadium. India are in both events by default and would want to approach every single international match until those two events as a chance to find their best playing combinations in those two tournaments.
Oltmans has already stressed the importance of the last two events in 2017 -- the Asia Cup in Bangladesh in October and then the World League Final.
"The most important thing is to show progress in our process. Our aim is to win as many matches as possible," Oltmans said, adding that the aim for the World League semi-final was to finish in the top three.
Opposition missing key players
Both Germany and Belgium will have some of their first-team regulars missing, with KHC Dragons of Belgium and German club Cologne set to play their Euro Hockey League semi-finals on June 3, and the final classification matches a day later. This should bridge the gap between the teams, as Germany at third and Belgium at fifth are both ranked higher than India at sixth.
Belgium will be the team affected more, with penalty-corner specialist Arthur van Doren, forwards Thomas Briels and Florent van Aubel and the experienced Felix Denayer, all of whom were part of the squad in Rio, set to miss out. Cologne also have a fair share of Germany's Rio bronze-medallists in Mats Grambusch, Tom Grambusch, Timur Oruz, two-time FIH young player of the year Christopher Ruhr and defender Mathias Muller.