SAFF Championship 2023: Sunil Chhetri Nets Hat-Trick in 4-0 Win Over Pakistan

SAFF Championship 2023: Sunil Chhetri became the fourth-highest goal-scorer in men's international football.

SAFF Championship 2023: Sunil Chhetri led India by example as the Blue Tigers handed Pakistan a 4-0 defeat.

(Photo: Twitter/IndianFootball)

In what proved to be a record-breaking night for Sunil Chhetri, the Indian football team’s skipper, the Blue Tigers started their 2023 SAFF Championship campaign exactly how they would have preferred – with a dominating 4-0 triumph over Pakistan. Chhetri netted a hat-trick, with Udanta Singh scoring the fourth goal.

The Pakistani contingent had a disastrous start, with their goalkeeper committing a fatal mistake in only the 10th minute of the match. Saqib Hanif, who plies his trade for Maldives’ Green Streets, tried to do a Manuel Neuer – except that he did not have the necessary footwork. Ultimately, Chhetri snatched a ball from Hanif before slotting it into an empty net.

To make matters worse, Pakistan conceded a penalty merely five minutes later, with Anirudh Thapa’s shot being blocked with a trailing arm inside the box. Chhetri, as he does so often and so effortlessly, took the onus of doubling India’s advantage from twelve yards on himself, and made no mistakes whilst doing so.

Against the run of play, Shahzad Anwar’s team did create a few opportunities, with Otis Khan, the striker who spends the majority of the season representing Grimsby Town in England, trying to make inroads into the Indian backline. The attempts, however, were unyielding.

There were not many notable instances in the first half following Chhetri’s penalty, albeit Igor Stimac did his bit to add a subplot to the game by engaging himself in a skirmish, and subsequently, receiving marching orders.

Chhetri Enters Record Books – Again!

India dominated the second period as well, but had to wait 30 minutes to score their third goal, with Pakistan triggering their own downfall for the third time in the match. In a one-man-show goal, Chhetri first made a run, then drew a penalty after being tackled inside the box, and then buried the ball past Hanif to complete an astonishing hat-trick.

There was, however, another change in the scoreline. A ball from the deep found Udanta Singh unmarked, with only Hanif to beat, which the winger did without breaking a sweat.

India claimed pole position in Group A with their stunning display, but the scoreline proves to be a supplementary context on a night where Chhetri etched his name on the books of history – for perhaps the umpteenth time in his career.

With his hat-trick, the 38-year-old is now the fourth-highest all-time goal-scorer in the history of men’s international football, having toppled Malaysia’s Mokhtar Dahari. The Indian skipper has scored 90 scores, as compared to Dahari’s 89, whilst he is now 13 goals away from reaching Lionel Messi’s tally of 103 international goals.