Jhingan, Chhetri score in India’s title win

India beat Kyrgyz Republic 2-0 to claim the Tri-Nation Tournament at Khuman Lampak Stadium in Imphal last week. And to add to the delight of the fans, Sunil Chhetri scored his 85th international goal in the 84th minute after Sandesh Jhingan had given them the lead in the 35th minute.
With India playing their best XI and Igor Stimac making six changes to the team that beat Myanmar and Kyrgyz Republic, too, bringing in four changes, both sides were aware of the importance of the fixture. It was an edgy encounter from the word go with India dominating the first 15 minutes and showing the 30,000-plus crowd that they had not come for a tournament-winning draw. The first five minutes, in fact, saw the hosts taking the game to Kyrgyz Republic and winning a corner or a freekick after every move.
It was Brandon Fernandez -India’s set-piece wizard under Stimac – who took the onus of delivering them each time. Although his shots in the first 30 minutes were optimistic, they needed something more for a breakthrough.
That was till the 35th minute when India won another free-kick some yards off the box. Brandon stepped up again and was able to squeeze the ball in near the goal as an onrushing Jhingan made no mistake of guiding the ball in with his deft first touch.
While the first half ended with India leading, Alexander Krestinin’s wards came back strongly after the change of ends and looked determined for an equaliser in the first five minutes of it. However, the Indian defence, led by Jhingan and assisted by the brilliant Anwar Ali, kept withstanding the barrage of attacks.