Inspirational Indian chief Sunil Chhetri scored a prop to put himself keeping pace with Lionel Messi and lead the home side to Intercontinental Cup title triumph with a 2-0 prevail upon Kenya in the summit conflict here today.
Playing in his 102nd universal match, Chhetri struck in the eighth and 29th minutes to hand an overwhelming India the trophy to the wild festival of the home fans at the Mumbai Football Arena here.
The 33-year-old Chhetri’s twofold strike topped a splendid competition which saw him score eight out of India’s 11 objectives and put him comparable to Argentine whiz Messi with 64 strikes for the nation to be the joint second most elevated universal objective scorer among dynamic players.
He had scored three against Chinese Taipei, two each against Kenya in the association amusement and the last today and one against New Zealand.
Chhetri gave India the begin a set-piece, helped by Anirudh Thapa. Kenyan protector Bernard Oginga gave away a senseless free-kick to India for a high-boot on Chhetri after a toss in by Pritam Kotal. The 20-year-old Thapa took the free-kick simply fresh and Chhetri associated the ball into the left corner of the net.
The supernatural Indian commander multiplied the lead just before the half-hour stamp. Anas Edathodika flung the ball to Chhetri who controlled the ball pleasantly on his chest between Kenyan safeguards Jockins Atudo and Micheal Kibwage before terminating in a low left-footer from inside the container which allowed totally to guardian Patrick Matasi.
Chhetri had an opportunity to make it 3-0 and score another cap trap however he shot over the block off a free-kick in the 43rd moment. At the midway stage, India were 2-0 ahead.
The star for India in the second half was their overseer Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, who guaranteed a perfect sheet with a portion of his jumping and amazing recoveries.
In the 46th moment came Kenya’s most obvious opportunity when Ovella Ochieng made a go from a separation yet Gurpreet influenced a plunging to spare and the bounce back went over the bar.
Chances continued desiring Kenya, yet they were not ready to change over them. In the 60th moment, Ochieng propelled another long-officer yet Gurpreet acted the hero as he pushed the ball back to be cleared by his protectors.