Sunil Chhetri’s Last Game: Prior to the game, captain Sunil Chhetri forgot his jersey at home. This is what transpired.
Sunil Chadha Goodbye: With Chhetri leaving, Indian football is going to lose a lot of players. In 150 games, Sunil Chhetri has scored 94 goals.
Retirement of Sunil Chhetri: Sunil Chhetri’s significance in Indian football is evidenced by the hundreds of untold tales about him. At Kolkata’s Salt Lake Stadium, Sunil Chhetri and his side will play Kuwait in a crucial World Cup qualifier as their final game.
Everyone who has worked with Sunil Chhetri, including coaches and other players, has a wealth of recollections about him. He has even gained the admiration of Indian cricket player Virat Kohli. In response to Sunil Chhetri’s plea, Virat has also made an appeal to supporters of Indian football. Anadi Barua, a former Indian football player and coach of Chhetri, states, “Sunil was the Delhi captain and I was the coach of Delhi. He had excellent discipline. He had a cook from Kolkata with him to take care of all the food and drink, leaving out any spices.
When I used to visit his room, I noted that he had 17–18 pairs of shoes perfectly arranged. Like a student who cherishes his books, Chhetri had taken great care to keep his shoes. This is how much Chhetri cares about his game. He was able to play for such a long time and so successfully because of all these factors.” Anadi Barua too thinks that Chhetri’s exit will be a major blow for Indian football. “Sunil Chhetri scored 94 goals in 150 matches,” he states.
That indicates that he offered Indian football supporters a minimum of 94 opportunities to be happy. Reaching your goals is a special talent. It won’t be simple to take his place.” “He is at number four in the world (after Cristiano Ronaldo, Ali Daei, and Lionel Messi) in terms of goal scoring,” Barua declares with pride. This is a significant matter. Even in the future, achieving this status won’t be simple.” Legends like former Indian football players Surjit Sengupta (Kolkata), Inder Singh (JCT Phagwara), Mohammed Habib (Hyderabad), IM Vijayan (Kerala), Baichung Bhutia (Sikkim), and Shishir Ghosh (Kolkata) are compared by Anadi to Indian football’s goal machine, Sunil Chhetri.
Anadi thinks Sunil Chhetri is a great football player. He asserts that, like his mother Sushila Chhetri, he is most likely a fighter. Anadi says that Sushila, Chhetri’s mother, can juggle over 100 footballs with her feet without tiring. He claims that despite his diminutive stature, he makes an excellent header. He even goes into the throng to get the ball. He makes no attempt to rescue himself. With curiosity, Anadi also recounts the occasion when, in his capacity as a coach, he let Sunil leave during the Santosh Trophy. However, he neglected to bring the jersey the day before the game.
Only when Sunil’s number was placed on another jersey was it possible for him to participate in the game. Coach Anadi chastised him as well. However, Sunil acknowledged his error, took a lesson from it, and went on.
Renedy Singh, a former Indian football player, states, “I spent eight years playing alongside Sunil. We shared both triumph and setbacks together. Sunil resembled an extremely intelligent Delhi football player. We football players want to play all the time. However, Sunil chose to close his career with a flourish. Sunil’s style is like this. However, he will undoubtedly be missed. It will be difficult for any player to emulate what he has done for Indian football.”
Sunil Chhetri, the captain of India, will leave a legacy when he plays his final football match at Kolkata’s Salt Lake Stadium versus Kuwait. Numerous tales exist of his triumph, setback, tears, laughter, uniting the Indian team, and emerging as the face of Indian football. For almost twenty years, Sunil Chhetri, along with Sachin Tendulkar, Dhanraj Pillai, Sania Mirza, and the Leander-Mahesh duo, was the face of cricket in India. When he departs, he will be greatly missed.