Football
Fights, hattrick, drama - India v/s Pakistan turns classic Bollywood
Indian football team defeated Pakistan 4-0 in the first game of SAFF Championship on a long night full of drama.
FILE PHOTO: Sunil Chhetri in action during the SAFF Championship in Bengaluru. (Photo Credit: AIFF)
The Indian football team defeated eternal rivals Pakistan 4-0 at the fully-packed Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru to start SAFF Championship with a win on Wednesday.
But it wasn't as simple as it sounds - there were scuffles, coaches being given red cards, and tumultuous rain to give everything an extra touch of drama.
Whenever India and Pakistan clash in sports, it is never shy of some dramatic events. Be it the T20 World Cup at MCG, Pakistani javelin thrower Arshad going against Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra, or the finals of the Junior Asia Cup in Hockey, it is dramatic.
The opening game of the SAFF Championship was no-less than that having every ingredient to be termed as a Bollywood classic.
When the SAFF Championship was announced to be held at the Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru, the questions of Pakistan's participation loomed with AIFF assuring that it won't be a problem.
The AIFF was right, the Indian government cleared Pakistan's participation but the Sports Board of Pakistan delayed an essential NOC for their team.
What followed next was a lot of back and forth between the authorities and players on Twitter and other forums. Eventually, Pakistan was cleared and when they applied for Visa, it came but in bits and pieces just one day before their match.
After everything got cleared, the Pakistani team consisting of 32 players and officials, departed from Mauritius in two different batches due to the unavailability of seats at the last moment.
In a nutshell, the Pakistan football team reached Bengaluru right before the time.
When they arrived at the Kanteerava, an Indian team high on confidence and a packed crowd was waiting for them.
So, how did they fare on a noisy rainy night in Bengaluru?
Pakistan was outplayed, to be honest, on a day when they were already suffering from so much, the Indian team just rubbed the wounds handing them a 4-0 thrashing.
The Indian team started on the front foot with an attack from both sides. The pressure was visible when the goalkeeper Saqib Hanif fluffed his lines early in the game.
In the 10th minute, Saqib miskicked a ball under pressure from the Indian skipper and he was punished with Sunil Chhetri slotting the ball home and the crowd going crazy.
The waves of attacks from the Indian team didn't stop forcing them into another mistake, a handball in the box. Sunil Chhetri stepped up again to give India a 2-0 lead.
The Pakistani team continued to fight after finding some rhythm while the Indian forward line continued the attacks.
The game reached its peak of drama in the 44th minute of the game, when Pakistani player Abdullah Iqbal was taking a quick throw-in, the Indian head coach decided to interfere and threw the ball from his hand.
What followed was a big scuffle involving both sets of players and a red card for the Indian gaffer who seemed to learn a thing or two about this rivalry.
The post-interval part of the match was not as dramatic as the build-up or first half but a streaker ran into the pitch in the 69th minute to meet Indian skipper Sunil Chhetri proving his cult status among the fans.
A few minutes later, a sprinting Chhetri was brought down in the Pakistani box with the referee awarding another penalty. Sunil Chhetri stepped up again and scored his 90th International goal for India in the stadium which he calls 'home' with the crowd roaring.
The rest of the match went silently with Udanta Singh scoring a rare goal to make it 4-0 and India starting the tournament with a win.
The rain, the crowd, the skirmish, and the drama made Kanteerava alive for 90 minutes. For those 22,000 in the stadium and the thousands watching, football again proved to be a classic entertainer to overcome the mid-week blues.
