The men in red and green jumped high to punch their fists in the air as 10-man Bangladesh courageously came from behind to hold seven-time champions India to a 1-1 draw in their second match of the SAFF Championship at the National Football Stadium in Male, Maldives.

Yeasin Arafat cancelled out Sunil Chhetri's 26-minute strike in the 74th minute to give his side a creditable draw, helping Bangladesh to stay on top of the five-team table with four points before the second match of the day between Nepal and Sri Lanka got underway at the same venue.

With a man short and a goal down, Jamal and Co never looked like giving up, rather they kept becoming stronger on the counter and created more chances but the luck was not fully on their side, however, the boys seemed thrilled to have registered a draw as they performed a winning lap to thank a vast expatriate fans who backed the men in green and red throughout the 90 minutes. 

Bringing two changes in the playing eleven that beat Sri Lanka 1-0 on Friday, the charges of Bruzon started off cautious against India, who beat them 2-0 three months ago during the World Cup Qualifiers in Doha, although the seven-time champions never looked as sharp as they had been in that match.

India kept the ball well in the first 15 to 20 minutes without penetrating the Bangladesh box as Jamal Bhuiyan, Mohammad Ibrahim and Biplu Ahmed stayed very compact in midfield to deny India building up from the back.

The trio also played key roles in attacking transition with Jamal taking set-pieces that created chaos inside the Indian box. And in one such situation, Bangladesh came close to taking the lead when Saad Uddin headed a Jamal free-kick for Yeasin Arafat, who back-volleyed wide and a good chance had gone begging in the 26th minute.

With Bangladeshi players holding their heads for the missed opportunity, India capitalised in the transition with Sunil Chhetri again breaking the hearts of the red and green with a neat strike off a Manvir Singh cutback in the 26th minute.

Four minutes later, Tapu Barman came close to levelling the margin but he could not collect a Jamal free-kick properly before Bangladesh exposed the Indian backline but goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh denied Biplu Ahmed from close-range placing shot to the far post in the 39th minute.

After resumption, Bangladesh came all out to fight neck and neck and yielded a brilliant opportunity seven minutes into the second half  but Rakib Hossain volleyed wide off a Saad Uddin chip with only Gurpreet to beat.

Two minutes later, Bangladesh received a big blow as right-back Bishwanath Ghosh was sent off following a tackle on Liston Colaco from behind.

Bruzon then brought five changes in the squad and it worked really well with Matin Mia threatening a couple of times and even was fouled inside the box, which the referee ignored.

Goalkeeper Anisur Rahman Zico also made a couple of good saves before the pivotal moment arrived in the 74th minute when Rakib backheaded a glancing header off a low corner from Jamal and Yeasin Arafat equalised from Bangladesh with his maiden international goal through a diving header.