The Indian football team arrived in Hangzhou late on Monday with tired limbs after an inordinately long layover in Singapore. The Sunil Chhetri-led side will play their opening match of the Asian Games 2023 against hosts China on Tuesday evening.

"After an extremely long journey, we reached our hotel here in China at half past midnight. Time to rest and see if the team can recover for tomorrow’s game," the national team head coach Igor Stimac tweeted on Monday night (Tuesday local time).

India were able to stitch a final squad only on Friday and the team left for China on Sunday.

Moreover, two players — defenders Konsam Chinglensana Singh and Lalchungnunga — out of the 22 picked will join later as their visas were not ready.

In any case, the duo will not be available for the match at the Huanglong Sports Center Stadium on Tuesday. Also, Stimac said on Sunday that senior pro Sandesh Jhingan and talismanic striker Chhetri would not play the opening match to save them for the later two games.

Chhetri started training just a couple of weeks ago as he needed time with his family after becoming a father recently.

Stimac’s move is understandable as India have a better chance to win against Bangladesh (September 21) and Myanmar (September 24) than against China, and considering that the team will take on the hosts without rest and training.

It will have to be seen whether Stimac sticks to what he had said or field Jhingan as defenders Chinglensana and Lalchungnunga will not be available for Tuesday’s match.

The last time the two countries met in the Asian Games was in 2002 in Busan, Korea, where India lost 0-2.