‘Messi of India’ reigns supreme
Even at the age of 38, Sunil Chhetri still remains the standout player on the pitch for the India national team. Off it as well, the "God of Indian football" stays at the centre of attention every time India play at the international level.
The 2023 SAFF Championship has been no exception and the prolific striker on Tuesday night led from the front, as he often does, as hosts India and Kuwait fought for glory in Bengaluru.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. On the night at the Kanteerava Stadium, Chhetri threaded a key pass to help India find the equaliser seven minutes from half time. He also went on to convert the first penalty in shootout as India won 5-4 in tiebreakers and bagged yet another SAFF Championship title.
During the tournament, interestingly, no jersey apart from Chhetri's No. 11 was spotted around the stadium gates or when the home crowd created waves at the gallery.
The price of Chhetri's jersey had gone up to Rs 300 ahead of the final match, 100 more than what was during India's campaign opener against Pakistan. A retailer of jerseys informed that there has been no demand for other Indian footballers, so they always sell the jersey of Chhetri -- on par with celebrity cricketers MS Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar.
Such is the stardom of the striker, who has a whopping 92 international goals under his belt, tied with Maldives' forward Ali Ashfaque's tally of 23 in SAFF Championships.
As Chhetri and his troops took the field for the warm-up before the final tonight, the stadium erupted with ear-splitting noise.
"He is the God of Indian football, that's why everyone sports his jersey," said Gobind Kumar who doesn't keep track of Indian domestic leagues like ISL but he always follows the Indian national football team.
"I think he is [Lionel] Messi of Indian football," re-iterated Kumar, who went close to the fence to capture the photo of Chhetri during the warm-up session. Kumar hopes that Chhetri will go on to serve India for another four to five years.
Before entering the press box, this reporter saw a lot of fans queued up to enter the gallery. Some of them also termed Chhetri as "God of Indian football".
"He is an Indian God. Chhetri has been an emotion of Indian football," said Amol who, despite being a fan of ISL team Kerala Blast, is a huge fan of the Indian captain who plies his trade with Bengaluru FC.
The popularity of Chhetri was not built overnight, rather the prolific striker gained the faith of Indian fans by scoring relentlessly. Five goals in three matches in the ongoing SAFF Championship have demonstrated Chhetri's continuous impact on the field at the age when most forwards lose their steam.
Before India's semi-final match against Lebanon, one Indian journalist asked Chhetri whether this SAFF Championship is going to be his last. The India captain remained humble in his reply.
"I don't know when my last game for the country is going to be. It derives from the fact that I have never had long-term targets, I think about the next match, next 10 days. It (retirement) may come at a day when probably I don't want to, as there are a lot of things, and I will be done. Till that time, I'll never think about it.
"Generally, there are some parameters that I think about... whether I am contributing to the team or not. The day I am finished with my petrol or diesel or electric or whatever I am done."
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