India made light work of Pakistan at the Sree Kanteerava stadium in Bengaluru on Wednesday, with Sunil Chhetri scoring a hat-trick in a 4-0 win to kick off their 2023 SAFF Championship campaign.
Chhetri scored two goals from the spot in both halves, apart from his 10th minute opener, while Udanta Singh grabbed a late fourth goal for India to round things off.
The hat-trick brought up Chhetri’s international tally to 90 goals, going past Malaysia’s Mokhtar Dahari on 89 goals to become the second-highest scoring Asian and fourth-highest overall in international football.
India went top of Group A with their four-goal win after Kuwait defeated Nepal 3-1 in the earlier game.
“I’m quite happy, more satisfied because we kept a clean sheet, that was the first target that the team had set,” Chhetri said after the match. “I think these numbers will matter. At 2-0 that was the talk we had inside, we wanted to score more and I’m thankful we did it.” This was India’s seventh consecutive clean sheet – an all-time record going past the previous mark of six games set in 1951-52.
“Also, very happy to be back at the fortress, the atmosphere was amazing,” the captain added. “Playing here we always feel confident.”
With Pakistan only having around six hours in Bengaluru ahead of their match against India, it was expected that the home side would have the physical advantage right from the off. Pakistani goalkeeper Saqib Hanif displayed signs of jet-lag as he dallied on the ball while bringing it out of the box. Chhetri, ever ready to pounce like a coiled tiger, took advantage and nicked the ball off Hanif, before rounding him and slotting into the gaping net.
India didn’t have to wait long to double their lead, as the referee pointed to the spot for a handball in the 15th minute, although the decision looked a bit harsh in retrospect. It mattered little to Chhetri who made sure of his 89th goal from the spot, with Hanif having no chance.
As the heavens opened up, India played some fluent football on the pitch as the half went on, but it ended in a fracas which saw India coach Igor Stimac sent off for blocking a throw-in.
The second half saw little adventure from Pakistan as India exerted their control and the game ended as a contest in the 75th minute after Sunil Chhetri scored from the spot and brought up his hat-trick. Defying his age, Chhetri burst into the box with a surprising turn of pace and was brought down – and he made sure from the spot a minute later with an unstoppable penalty into the top corner.
Udanta Singh added the cherry-on-top of the icing of India’s cake with a supremely well taken goal in the 81st minute, running onto a long ball and finishing with aplomb, thus wrapping up the victory for India.
“There was some good stuff we did, I am sure the coach will tell us there are some- things we can improve on. Things are going to get difficult from here but the way we are playing we are quite confident we are going to rectify our mistakes and be a better team,” Chhetri said.
The Viking clap reverberated at the Kanteerava after the final whistle, as India opened their SAFF campaign with a famous win over a famous opponent.
For a detailed update of the match, check out ESPN’s live blog below.
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