Sunil Chhetri hat-trick in India's 4-0 rout of Pakistan

The last time Sunil Chhetri took a free-kick in Bengaluru, it had led to a walk-out. Left dazed by a travel schedule bordering on the insane, SAFF Championships’ intransigence in altering fixtures, and down by two goals, Pakistan’s protest was feebler than Kerala Blasters’ though it fetched full-back Muhammad Umar Hayat a caution.

Chhetri’s free-kick sailed off target and with it went his shot at a first-half hattrick. That was completed in the 74th minute, the 4-0 cakewalk on Wednesday being sealed by a goal from Udanta Singh. An evening that produced a clean sheet, India’s eighth in the last 10 games, in front of a full house and was the defending champions’ biggest win against Pakistan was marred by head coach Igor Stimac’s brain fade leading to a red card in first half added-time.

Stimac – a decorated international with an under-20 World Cup title, a men’s World Cup bronze and a former Croatia coach – flicked the ball out of a Pakistan player’s hand before a throw-in. The momentary lapse of reason provoked jostling between players and staff on both sides. By the time Stimac and Hassan Naweed Bashir had shaken hands and the Pakistan No.10 tried calming things down, referee Chetri Prajwol reached for his back pocket. Chhetri’s incredulity notwithstanding, there was little to argue about the decision. As Stimac was escorted out of the Sree Kanteerava Stadium under an umbrella, assistant-coach Mahesh Gawli took charge.

With India playing Nepal on Saturday and Kuwait on June 27 in the group league, it will have to be seen how severe Stimac’s punishment is. This is the second time Stimac has seen red in the SAFF Championships. He missed the 2021 final because of a red card in the group league.

“We have not trained for three days and arrived today after travelling for 24 hours,” said Pakistan central defender and skipper Easah Suliman in a pitch side interview after the match. Suliman, whose time at Aston Villa overlapped with Jack Grealish’s, is now on loan in the Portuguese second tier. "Some of our players checked in at the hotel only at 5pm," said Suliman. The team reached Bengaluru in batches from Mumbai.

That is late but teams have arrived for games on match day. Vanuatu played in the Intercontinental Cup hours after flying in. In 2017-18, an ATK-FC Goa ISL match happened near midnight and hours after FC Goa flew in following a disruption in flight schedule. Also, Pakistan’s late arrival was due to their applying for visas only last week. The SAFF schedule was out in May. It needed backchannel work with different Indian ministries by All India Football Federation to get Pakistan to Bengaluru via Mumbai from Mauritius where they played a four-nation tournament.

Banned by FIFA twice over the past six years and without a league, Pakistan were returning to the SAFF Championship after five years, having missed the 2021 edition.

To the inter-changeable chants of ‘India, India’ and ‘Chhetri, Chhetri’, by 22,860 on a wet evening, Pakistan goalkeeper Saqib Hanif threatened to let his team down before he did. His miskick in the seventh minute fell to Chhetri but the India captain’s shot took a deflection. Three minutes later and under no pressure, Hanif shinned a backpass and Chhetri tapped home.

It was 2-0 in the 16th minute following a penalty after Anirudh Thapa’s shot hit a rival hand and Chhetri did his stand-and-deliver routine. But for Sahal Abdul Samad losing his sense of direction in the 48th and Sandesh Jhingan’s header crashing into the horizontal in the 66th, India would have scored again before Chhetri did. Haring down the right, he forced a push from Muhammad Sufyan and converted the 74th minute penalty. This was his 90th international goal, making him the fourth-highest scorer of all time, and the third among active players after Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. Anwar Ali’s ability to put in a raking pass from deep defence made it 4-0 in the 81st when Udanta Singh broke through the lines to beat Hanif.

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