with a few other small synchronized clusters away from it. Similarly, the first $35$ oscillators are synchronized with the drive for $\varepsilon=0.62$ (see Figs. \[fig3\](a)(iv) and Fig. \[fig3\](b)(iv)) along with other small clusters. Thus, it is clear that an increase in the coupling strength results in desynchronization of some of the existing clusters and formation of new clusters away from the main cluster. At the same time, nearby desynchronized oscillators from the main cluster becomes synchronized sequentially with it thereby increasing its size, contributing to the basic mechanism of formation of GPS via sequential synchronization of local oscillators as explained in detail in Ref. [@suresh10]. Finally for $\varepsilon=0.8$, all the oscillators become phase locked to attain GPS as depicted in Figs. \[fig3\](a)(v) and  \[fig3\](b)(v), which remains stable for further larger values of the coupling strength. For the above values of $\varepsilon$, the main cluster and other small clusters are also clearly seen in the index vs index plot in Figs. \[fig5\].

Further, we have also plotted the average phase ($\langle \phi_i \rangle$) and the average frequency ($\langle \Omega_i \rangle$) of all the $N$ oscillators as a function of $\varepsilon$ in Figs. \[fig6\] to get a global picture of the above 