The Indian senior men’s team kicked off their SAFF Championship title defence with a 4-0 victory over Pakistan in Group A on Wednesday, June 21 at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru.
Sunil Chhetri netted an early brace before adding another after the break for his fourth international hat-trick, thereby taking his tally to 90 goals. Substitute Udanta Singh then finished the job with the fourth goal late on to sum up a memorable night for the Blue Tigers on their return to Bengaluru after almost six years.
Watch the SAFF Championship match highlights above!
INDIA: Amrinder Singh – Pritam Kotal (65′ Nikhil Poojary), Sandesh Jhingan, Anwar Ali, Subhasish Bose, Jeakson Singh Thounaojam, Anirudh Thapa (65′ Rohit Kumar), Sahal Abdul Samad, Ashique Kuruniyan (74′ Udanta Singh), Sunil Chhetri [C] (86′ Liston Colaco), Lallianzuala Chhangte (74′ Naorem Mahesh Singh)
#India open their #SAFFChampionship2023 campaign with a 4-0 against #Pakistan in #Bengaluru.
Our hero once more, #SunilChhetri with a hattrick.
But huge respect to Pakistan for playing on the day just hours after getting into #Bangalore. #IndianFootball #PakistanFootball
— Arunava Chaudhuri | arunfoot (@Arunfoot) June 21, 2023