Striking feats that define Sunil Chhetri

Jaydeep Basu

The journey that began on June 12, 2005, in the high-altitude city of Quetta will finally come to an end in the plains of Kolkata on June 6 — an odyssey six days short of 19 years. In between, Sunil Chhetri, the poster boy of Indian football, has set many a record that would be hard to surpass. For the national team, he has played 150 matches, scored 94 goals, and worn the captain’s armband in a staggering 87 outings.

This set of cold statistics would have been enough for Chhetri to go down as one of the finest in the nearly 150-year history of Indian football. But it is only a minuscule part of Chhetri’s characteristics, almost negligible to those who have followed his career closely. What the diminutive striker has delivered to the national team for close to two decades can sweep away all figures and even the greatest names of the game in India would find it difficult to match.

To put it straight, no one in Indian football has ever managed to score so many crucial goals for the country in so many important make-or-break matches. Even legends like Chuni Goswami, PK Banerjee or Tulsidas Balaram’s exceptionally brilliant career graphs don’t boast of such a scenario.

Time and again, Chhetri, almost singlehandedly, has taken the pain of elevating the otherwise modest Indian football to the next level, no matter how long it could survive there. Think of the two Asian Cup final rounds India made in 2011 and 2019 — neither feat would have been achieved without Chhetri’s masterstrokes in decisive encounters.

In the 2008 AFC Challenge Cup final, India needed to beat Tajikistan to qualify for the Asian Cup final rounds after 24 long years. The ground conditions at Delhi’s Ambedkar Stadium were far from encouraging — the steady drizzle at regular intervals turned the pitch slushy and impossible for good football. But, on that fateful night of August 13, 2008, Chhetri rose to the occasion to net a hat-trick that resulted in a 4-1 demolition of Tajikistan and a place in the 2011 Asian Cup in Doha, a truly significant occurrence in Indian football.

A decade on, Chhetri didn’t lose his sharpness. Without his superb strikes against Myanmar and Kyrgyzstan, India would not have qualified for the 2019 Asian Cup. His two goals in the qualifiers in 2017 changed the complexion of the matches. India qualified from Group A with two matches to spare. Out of India’s 11 goals across six matches, the captain scored four in five games.

The goal against Myanmar in Yangon was historic, as it was India’s first victory against the neighbours in an away tie since 1953. He later told this writer, “It was in the 90th minute and the match was still goalless. When Udanta (Singh) passed the ball to the goalmouth, I was far behind. Believe me, I simply burst my lungs out and ran. The Myanmar defenders were ahead of me, but I told myself I would have to get it and I managed to get it.”

Equally stunning was his strike against Kyrgyzstan in Bengaluru that set the pace for India’s qualification. Chhetri began the decisive run a few yards inside his own area, dodged past three defenders, passed the ball for Jeje Lalpekhlua, and ran into the box. As Jeje sent an inch-perfect pass for Chhetri, he struck home with a coolness that left the Kyrgyzstan goalkeeper completely frozen in his spot.

Chhetri later rated it as the number-one goal in his international career. He said: “While I did score the goal, what I remember was the pass by Jeje... It was an important goal because we needed the three points to stay firmly in the qualifying race.”

The list could be stretched further. But the fact remains that none of Chhetri’s predecessors could strike with such unfailing regularity, not even mercurial forwards like IM Vijayan or Bhaichung Bhutia. Sceptics have often talked about the lack of international silverware in Chhetri’s trophy cabinet, have questioned the quality of opposition, and ridiculed the general standard of Indian football. They have ignored the fact that football has undergone a sea change in the Asian continent in terms of both quality and competition and Chhetri faced a much smarter and more organised defence than before.

Jarnail Singh had several stitches on his head and yet scored a goal in the 1962 Asian Games final — it’s an age-old popular story of Indian football. Few remember the 2008 AFC Challenge Cup semi-final against Myanmar in Hyderabad under heavy rain; running on the pitch was difficult, let alone controlling the ball. It was an amazing night as an injured Chhetri, with his head heavily bandaged, leapt high in the 82nd minute to head home the winner.

It stunned his teammates, the crowd, and even the India coach Bob Houghton, who later said he didn’t see a braver goal in his career. The English coach was spot-on. Indian football has rarely seen a braver soul than Sunil Chhetri.

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