“I’d like to say something…” read the tweet. There were 10 minutes of Sunil Chhetri talking into a camera, but even before the first 10 seconds were over, the collective hearts of millions of Indian football fans sank.

This was it; 19 glorious years in an Indian shirt were about to come to an end, on June 6 against Kuwait.

It was an expected decision, there were murmurs, and yet the overwhelming feeling remains that none of the myriad people involved were ready for it. Not the Indian football team, nor Igor Stimac, nor the AIFF, nor Chhetri’s family, nor his fans. Least of all the man himself:

“Will I be sad after this? Of course. Do I feel sad sometimes everyday because of this? Yes.”

The player who had come to embody Indian football to a cricket-crazy country, who scored 94 goals for his nation and put himself – statistically, at least – in the same bracket as Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, who time after time delivered when it mattered – against Pakistan in Quetta on his debut, and even in his most recent game against Afghanistan (both games that India threw away, in what has been a depressing theme of Chhetri’s career) will hang up that famous no.11 shirt.

It’s a decision that some have welcomed – ‘hope you’re happy’ is how Chhetri smiled and nodded at his recent detractors. Yet, one can never say that Chhetri truly overstayed his welcome, a rare commodity amongst Indian sporting legends who often soured their legacy, raging against their body and dwindling powers in the sunset of their careers.

Yes, his powers were dwindling, especially in the Bengaluru FC shirt, which saw him relegated to the bench with regularity. But in the India blue, Chhetri was a different animal. 43% of India’s goals in 2023 prior to this January’s AFC Asian Cup came via his boot. “Right now, the team still needs me,” is what he said not six months prior. “I’m going to do everything in my power to help him play for another five years,” said Stimac as well last year.

So what changed?

Not much, really. Chhetri himself acknowledged a part of him would like to continue, saying “It took time because the kid inside me, he never wants to stop if given a chance to play for his country. Never… Nothing comes close to playing for a country.”

“So the kid kept fighting and probably even in the future will keep fighting inside. I think the sensible, the matured player, the person inside knew it, that, this is it.”

“But it wasn’t easy.”

It isn’t an easy decision for any successful sportsperson. The fire within continues after retirement, and it’s the same fire that propelled them to the top echelons of the game. It’s what drove a diminutive, gangly youngster educated in Delhi and Kolkata to outjump and outmuscle the strongest, tallest defenders in Asia, to score multiple times for his country. That fire drove him to multiple scoring records – no longer will Indian football fan pages be able to whip up a graphic that has Chhetri’s face alongside that of Messi and Ronaldo.

No longer will fans have hope when he’s named as the #9 in Stimac’s lineup. The Croatian himself now has a tall task in attempting to replace what had become his most reliable source of goals and often his only shot at winning a football match. Chhetri, his ever-positive self, said “It’s time for our country to see the next #9.” Who next?, that question that every Indian football fan was dreading for the last few years will finally have an answer. It may not even have one, because the chances of finding another 94-goal striker who is head and shoulders above what India’s football system can produce are infinitesimally slim.

And so, no one’s ready, but the decision has been made. For good or worse. Importantly, however, it’s on Chhetri’s own terms – the last visual of him in tears on the bench after the loss to Afghanistan in March of this year wouldn’t be appropriate for the stature of his career.

Instead, the Salt Lake stadium, witness to so many of his greatest moments, will roar one last time for the Indian captain when he takes to the field against Kuwait. One last prize, one last shot at taking India to where it’s never been before – the third round of the 2024 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. One last time to revel in the hope that he brings just by being on the pitch.

The legs, the body are that of a 39-year-old but on his favourite maidan, clad in his favourite shirt with his favourite number, Chhetri will run, chase the ball, and score – like that 20-year-old who made his debut. That was enough for Pakistan in 2005, it ought to be enough for Kuwait in 2024. When the final whistle blows, one hopes his teammates gives Chhetri the fitting farewell he deserves, for 19 years of service that could never be summed up.

That 10-minute video ended with Chhetri being asked what he would like his epitaph to read. ‘Here lies Sunil Chhetri who…’ a pause, a long breath and he replied “The luckiest and the most hard working national team player.”

One could argue that a more fitting one would be the three words we’ve always known him as. “Here lies Sunil Chhetri. Captain. Leader. Legend.”

One last time, then for India’s captain, leader, legend.