Skipper Sunil Chettri, who plays for Sporting Lisbon’s B side, hoped his Portugal stint will come in handy when the team steps on to the monsoon-freshened lush green turf at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, where they won the SAFF Cup in December.

The Delhi star striker is not bothered much about his team being the lowest ranked in the tournament, he feels India have the ability to defend the title. Cameroon (59), Nepal (162) and Maldives (161) are the other teams besides the highly popular Syria (147) and the hosts.