India vs Pakistan: Sunil Chhetri says scoring international goals not easy after SAFF Championship hat-trick

The flurry of goals meant India have now scored six goals in their last two games, inclusive of a 2-0 win over Lebanon in the Intercontinental Cup final last Sunday. Chhetri scored in that game as well and came amid clamours of missed opportunities and a lack of goals in the group stages.

Prior to the last two games, Igor Stimac pointed out that his forwards are not scoring enough goals for the number of chances created as the Blue Tigers found the net three times in as many games, including a 0-0 draw against Lebanon. The coach also added that his responsibility was to ensure that the ball reaches his forwards inside the box and after that, it’s the strikers’ responsibility.

Sunil Chhetri, who now has five goals in four games, said it’s never easy to score international goals irrespective of opponents.

“Scoring international goals is not easy, no matter whom you are playing or where you are playing, my friend,” said Chhetri while responding to myKhel. “I think during the Intercontinental Cup goals came against some of the tough opponents so I don’t think there was a lack of goals. But yes, there were a lot of missed chances and we have a lot to improve on as far as finishing is concerned. I think we are on the right track and we want to improve.

“Even after taking a 2-0 lead today, at half time we discussed that we will keep pushing and try to finish off as many chances we get and I think we fared well.”

With the hat-trick on Wednesday, the 38-year-old national team captain has now 89 goals to his name at the level and became the rarest Indian player to score thrice in a game against Pakistan. He is now in the company of IM Vijayan, Jeje Lalpekhlua, and Puran Bahadur Thapa.

Speaking of reaching the milestone, Sunil Chhetri kept the team ahead of him. “We will speak of that (milestone) once I’m done playing. I’m more happy about reaching the team’s objective of keeping a clean sheet because it’s something we discussed during the team’s meeting.”