Taison, Gurkirat star as India bows out of AFC Qualifiers with a win

India defeated Kuwait 2-1 at the Ali Sabah Al-Salem stadium (Kuwait) on Tuesday night to end their below-par run at the AFC U-20 Asian Cup qualifiers. Shanmugam Venkatesh's boys could muster up the single win out of their three matches.

After heavy defeats to Iraq (2-4) and Australia (1-4), the young colts were looking to end their disappointing campaign on a high, which they did. On the day, skipper Taison Singh and Abhishek Singh ran rings around Kuwait players with their speed and darting runs down the flanks.

Vibin Mohanan was on show today as well as the midfielder was accurate with his crosses. In fact, it was his pass which found Taison on the right flank which led the captain to opening the scoring with a thunderous strike.

However, Kuwait came into the second half with a renewed hunger as they scored the equaliser thanks to captain Saleh Almehtab's brilliant freekick from close range. Soon enough though, Gurkirat Singh, with the help of a slight deflection, gave India the lead with a freekick. This was the forward's third goal in the qualifers.

India was able to hold on to those slender lead as they ended the campaign with three points from three matches. While the U-20 team couldn't make it for the Asian Cup, the U-17 and the senior men's team will be playing the competition in the 2023 editions.