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Chhetri rues India's performance against Bangladesh
Bengaluru, October 16: Talisman striker Sunil Chhetri rued India's performance against Bangladesh in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Zone FIFA World Cup qualifier which ended in a 1-1 stalemate, saying the underwhelming draw was no match to the electrifying atmosphere at Kolkata's Salt Lake Stadium.
A last-gasp Adil Khan header saved India the blushes as the higher-ranked fancied hosts struggled to a 1-1 draw on Tuesday night.
It was a huge disappointment for thousands of heads totting the stands at what can be at the best be described as the 'home of Indian football'.
Hours after the game that turned out to be the team's worst of the campaign so far, the Indian captain expressed his disappointment.
"We couldn't deliver a performance to match the atmosphere at the Salt Lake last night, and the dressing room is very disappointed about it," Chhetri tweeted.
Chhetri, who is India's all-time leading scorer with 72 strikes from 113 international appearances said the team couldn't make use of the opportunities, but no less mediocre was India's defending.
Couldn't capitalise
"We couldn't capitalise on the chances we got, but this is a process on the pitch and in the stands. You turned up, we'll keep attempting to," the Bengaluru FC striker added in his tweet.
Chhetri had missed the Qatar game owing to injury and was hoping to make it big against Bangladesh.
High on confidence
India came into the game high on confidence after holding AFC Asian Cup 2019 champions Qatar to a goalless draw at Doha's Al Sadd Stadium.
However, the result was far from what Igor Stimac's wards had expected in the run-up to the match.
Capacity crowd
Saad Uddin gave Bangladesh the lead in the 42nd minute and the visitors looked like going back home with all the three points in the Group E match, which was played in front of a capacity crowd.
Khan, however, ensured that India secured a point from the home game as he rose high to nod home a Brandon Fernandes corner kick in the 88th minute. A defeat at home would have severely dented India's hopes of advancing to the next round.
Away fixtures
India had lost to Oman 1-2 in their opening match before the holding the formidable 2022 FIFA World Cup hosts in their own den. India have two points from three matches, while Bangladesh stay at the bottom with one point from three outings.
India resume their Road to Qatar 2022 with back-to-back away fixtures against Afghanistan and Oman on November 14 and 19 respectively.
(With inputs from PTI)
Story first published: Wednesday, October 16, 2019, 12:49 [IST]
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