The Indian team had planned to arrive here for the Asia Cup on Friday, but realising the importance of the tournament, nine members of the squad who were not part of the Indian Test team to England, made it here a day earlier. The remaining seven will join the side today after a couple of days' rest at home.

"Since the Indian team had not played in this part for over a decade, we thought it prudent to arrive early and get used to the conditions," said stand-in skipper Rohit Sharma. The team had a rigorous workout at the ICC Academy ground in the Dubai Sports City. Considering India have to play back-to-back matches against Hong Kong on September 18 and Pakistan the following day, they have brought along two net bowlers - Shahbaz Nadeem and Siddharth Kaul.