Sunil Chhetri led the Indian team towards an emphatic win over their fiercest rivals Pakistan at the SAFF Championship opener. In a rain drenched evening at the Sree Kantareeva, India bagged 4 goals in front of Indian football’s passionate fans who turned up in decent numbers. Chhetri did not miss out on showing up for the occasion as he scored an inevitable hat-trick but did you know that Irfan Pathan is actually the first to earn a hat-trick over Pakistan?
It was a long way back in 2006 when a 22-year-old Irfan Pathan was gearing up to play his 21st Test match against Pakistan. In a cold January morning at Karachi, Pathan showed his wizardry and took 3 wickets in the very first over. For the record it was also a Maiden over.
Pathan bowled 3 dot balls to start with and then removed great Pakistani batters like Salman Butt, Younis Khan and Mohammed Yousuf all for a duck. Barring Salman as he played 4 balls, the number 2 and 3 batter departed for a golden duck.
Although that hat-trick could not get team India over the line as the visitors succumbed to 342-run loss. But the tables were turned last night and it were the Men in Blue who triumphed thanks to an inspiring hat-trick by Indian football’s Poster boy Sunil Chhetri.
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There could never have been any doubt that the 38-year-old will stand up and deliver. As he has been for the last 18 years for Indian football, Sunil Chhetri once again proved to be the difference maker. He scored 3 easy goals with the first one being a giveaway by Pakistani goalkeeper S. Hanif in the 10th minute and the next 2 were simple penalties.
Hat-trick by Sunil Chhetri, complimented by India’s defense
27-year-old Udanta Singh rounded off a memorable night at Bengaluru in front of 22,860 fans. Though Pakistan were looking out of shape and mental state to win this match, Indian defenders experienced a comfortable outing. Sandesh Jhingan and Anwar Ali’s pairing at the back was rock solid while Pritam Kotal and Subhashish Bose provided the attacking thrust from the full back positions.
With Sunil Chhetri scoring a hat-trick, the Blue Tigers completed their 7th clean sheet in a row and start SAFF Championship 2023 in style. India’s next match in their title defense is against Nepal on Saturday, June 24.
