SAFF Championship: Sunil Chhetri hat-trick powers India to 4-0 win over Pakistan
Bengaluru, Jun 21: Sunil Chhetri's glittering hat-trick laced India's 4-0 win over Pakistan in their SAFF Championship opener here on Wednesday as the talisman became the second-highest Asian goal-scorer in international football.
Ali Daei of Iran holds the record with 109 goals from 149 matches. Chhetri has 90 goals to his name.
From the beginning of the match itself India brought forth their experience and class into play. Pakistan had pockets of doughty resistance, but they were not a match to India's cohesion and purpose on a rain-drenched night at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium.
Chhetri had shown sparks of his old ebullient self in the Intercontinental Cup final against Lebanon at Odisha on Sunday, and the Indian skipper stepped on the pedal on his 'home turf'.
After getting a quick feel of the surface and their opponents, India started the goal rush as early as in the 10th minute through Chhetri, who netted through a fine field goal.
Six minute later, the talismanic forward doubled the lead through a penalty and at 2-0, the route which the match took was clear.
India pressed for more goals in the first half, but they could not add to the tally as Pakistan defence held their own. India too missed a couple of chances, though not easy, to pile pressure on their rivals.
However, the first-half ended in a rather disappointing note for India despite a handy 2-0 lead. An unnecessary attempt to impede a Pakistan player from taking the throw-in by coach Igor Stimac resulted in him slapped with a red card, and he had to leave the dug out for the night.
But that did not snap India's momentum in the second half. The hosts pressed forward like a giant wave in search of more goals. The big moment came in the 74th minute when India made it 3-0.
Pakistan defenders brought down Chhetri inside the box and referee Prajwal Chhetri allowed a penalty kick for India, and the Indian skipper converted it to complete his hat-trick, also putting the match beyond the grasp of Pakistan.
From that point, it was a case of India's victory margin and Udanta Singh passed more agony on the visitors with a goal in the 81st minute. Fed by a through pass by Sandesh Jhingan, Udanta made a good, speedy run down the pitch to slot the ball past Pakistan goalkeeper.
"Happy to keep clean sheet, happy to start tournament. Matches in these kinds of conditions are never easy. Happy people turned up, this is amazing, this is what we play for," Chhetri said after the match.
It was a sumptuous performance by India that thrilled the 22860-strong crowd that thronged the stadium despite a heavy downpour. India will next face minnows Nepal in their second Group A match on Saturday.
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Congress slams Modi govt over Manipur unrest
New Delhi (PTI): The Congress on Friday attacked the Modi government over the situation in Manipur, accusing it of being apathetic and remorseless.
In a post on X, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge noted that Manipur started burning exactly a year ago on May 3, 2023.
"Humanity perished in Manipur The cruel combination of an apathetic Modi Government and an inept BJP State Government have virtually divided the state into two halves.
"A remorseless PM Modi has not set foot in this border state, for it exposes his rank incompetency and absolute indifference. His ego has damaged the social fabric of a beautiful state," he charged in a post on X.
Kharge noted that the people of Manipur, from all communities now know how the BJP made their lives miserable.
"People of Northeast, now know that Modi Government's shameless drumbeating about so called development drowned the voices of humanity in the region. People of India, now know that PM Modi and his Government has no iota of sympathy for the countless lives they destroyed in Manipur," the Congress chief said.
He claimed that more than 220 people have been killed, 60,000 people have been displaced and thousands, including women and children, still continue to languish in camps.
"Women were raped, paraded and horrific violence took place, but the PM kept quiet. Only after outrage, that the PM bothered to pay lip-service in August 2023, which now reverberates hollow," he alleged.
Our security personnel are getting martyred. Police trainees of two communities shot at each other and arms and ammunition were looted, he claimed.
In January, we witnessed, how an armed group coerced MPs/MLAs to attend a meeting at the heavily guarded Kangla Fort, where @INCManipur President was brutally assaulted and tortured, he said.
Kharge claimed that there is no semblance of governance in Manipur and that law and order has collapsed.
"With deep sense of sadness, we pay our tribute to the countless innocent lives who suffered this unimaginable violence and who are still suffering, searching for a glimmer of hope for peace to return.
"Due to the BJP, normalcy and peace evades Manipur," the Congress president alleged questioning the silence of the Modi government and the prime minister on the situation in the north eastern state.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh accused the prime minister of abandoning the people of Manipur and outsourcing the management of the state to the Home Minister, who, he charged, has proved to be "hopelessly inadequate, insensitive, and incompetent".
"Exactly a year ago today, Manipur erupted - or more accurately, was made to erupt by the cynical and divisive politics of the ruling BJP," he alleged.
"Hundreds of people have been killed, thousands have been displaced, and Manipur’s communities now live in a deep-rooted suspicion of each other.Security forces themselves are routinely attacked and armed militias enjoying official patronage rule the roost...What is astounding is that just fifteen months earlier in the assembly elections the BJP and its allies had received a thundering mandate. That mandate evaporated on May 3rd 2023 entirely because of the BJP's own (mis)calculations and manipulations," he said.
Even amidst this "civil war-like situation", the prime minister has been eloquent in his silence, Ramesh said criticising Modi for not visiting Manipur even for a few minutes, even though he has been to Assam, Tripura, and Arunachal Pradesh for his campaign.
The Congress leader charged that the situation in Manipur today is the doing of the Modi Sarkar’s policy of ‘Bluff and Rule,’ which has characterised its actions in the Northeast.
"It is a shortsighted policy that prioritises stringing communities and stakeholders along for as long as possible, without meaningfully addressing their concerns. It has blown apart the social fabric of Manipur, and it is now blowing apart Nagaland as well. The voter turnout in six districts of Eastern Nagaland, which went to polls in Phase I of the Lok Sabha elections, was a very high zero - which even the Election Commission could not revise to a higher number. The PM has talked of trailers: Manipur is itself a trailer of what the BJP will do to our wonderful diversity, he said.
"The pain and agony of the people of Manipur is the pain and agony of the people of India. RahulGandhi has visited Manipur twice in the last year, and the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra began in Imphal on the 14th of January, 2024. Today is a day when we empathise with the people of all sections of Manipur society and hope that peace and social harmony will once again return soon," he added.
