Defending champions India will start as overwhelming favourites against Sri Lanka in the opening encounter of the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Cup at the Bangabandhu National Stadium here on today. The Indian team is essentially an U-23 one with the exception of striker Sumeet Passi but it is coming into the tournament with more than a month long preparation. India, who are currently ranked 96 in the latest FIFA rankings, have been on the winning side 15 times against their neighbours out of the 22 face-offs so far.

The Islanders' noteworthy victory against India came in the final of 1995 SAFF Championship which was then named as South Asian Gold Cup. "We're coming from a very effective camp in Australia. As we have spoken before we had three very different sorts of game and our boys have worked very hard to make a point there," head coach Stephen Constantine said. "Facing some of the good sides in this tournament would be a real challenge for us and this is the best scenario to test ourselves," he added. He said apart from Sunil Chhetri, Jeje Lalpekhlua and Balwant Singh, there were not many out-and-out strikers in India.