Benglauru (June 21) – Captain Sunil Chhetri’s hat-trick led defending champions India to a comfortable 4-0 victory over rivals Pakistan in the Group A encounter of SAFF Championship.
Chhetri’s hat-trick in tonight’s game moved him closer to the all-time top scorer list of the SAFF Championship with 21 goals. Former Maldivian captain Ali “Dhangadey” Ashfaq leads the list a total of 23 goals.
Due to the issues in receiving Indian visa, the Pakistan team travelled to Bengaluru today afternoon. Pakistan requested to postpone the match due to the challenges they face in travelling to Bengaluru, however the request was not accepted. The tiredness of the Pakistan team was evident throughout the whole game.
With the support of a rampant home crowd in the Sree Kantreeva Stadium, India took a two goal lead in the first 15 minutes of the game.
Inida’s talisman Chhetri gave India the lead in the 11th minute. Pakistani goalkeeper Saqib Hanif tried to clear the ball from the edge of the box, but his miskick led the ball in to the path of the rushing Chhetri who slotted the ball in to the empty net.
India was awarded a penalty kick 3 minutes later when Pakistani defender Abdulla Iqbal was judged to have handled the ball inside the box. Chhetri stepped up to double India’s lead from the spot.
India coach Igor Stimac was show a red card just before the break for stopping throw of Paksitan, which led to heated confrontations from both the players and officials from both sides.
Chhetri completed his hat-trick from the spot in the 75th minute after Pakistani defender Mohhamad Suffiyan fouled him from inside the box. With this goal, Chhetri has now scored 90 goals for the Indian National Team.
India’s fourth goal of the game was scored by substitute Udanta Singh in the 80th minute.
