Set to appear in her 100th international, India captain Ashalata Devi on Wednesday said playing in a friendly against formidable Brazil and winning the 2019 SAFF Championship here are the highlights of her illustrious football career.
The distinguished centre-back, who has guarded the Indian women's national team's defence for the past 13 years, will be donning the Blue Tigresses' jersey the 100th time on Thursday, when the side takes on arch-rivals Pakistan in the SAFF Championship at the Dasharath Stadium.
So which is the most memorable match of her career? "The friendly match we played against Brazil in Manaus in 2021 before the Asian Cup. We faced so many legends like Marta and Formiga. We did lose the match but that was a once-in-a-lifetime experience," Devi told the AIFF in an interview.
"That was a surreal opportunity for our team. We took a lot of learnings from that match." Speaking about the other high point of her career, she chose the SAFF triumph five years ago.
"The highest point was when we won the 2019 SAFF Championship here in Nepal. There were a lot of changes in the team during that time. But everyone performed their best, gave everything on the pitch.
"We had utmost unity and team bonding. There hasn't been a better moment than that in my career so far." Devi was called up for the India U-17 team in 2008 when she was 15.
Born in Imphal, she began playing football at the age of 13. She was initially with the Indian Railways football team and joined New Radiant Women's Football Club of Maldives in 2015.
Later, she played for Rising Student Club (Cuttack), KRYPHSA (Imphal), Sethu (Madurai) and Gokulam Kerala in the Indian Women's League. She is currently with East Bengal.
Asked about the lowest point of her 13-year career, she said, "The lowest point was when we hosted the AFC Women's Asian Cup in 2022. We never thought we'd have to withdraw from the tournament due to COVID.
"After working hard for so many months, all those unfortunate things happened. That's the biggest setback of my life. We all will never be able to forget that in our lives." Devi was a part of the Indian team that won two South Asian Games gold medals in 2016 and 2019. She was also part of the team that won the SAFF Women's Championship four times consecutively -- in 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2019.
She was one of the nominees for the AFC women's player of the year in 2019 and was named the AIFF women's player of the year for 2018–19.
On the eve of the big game against arch-rivals Pakistan, she said, I'm very happy and excited that I'll reach 100 caps in the first game of the SAFF Championship. It's difficult to put this feeling into words.
"This tournament is very important for our team. I hope we can play better and win the trophy.
"I feel the emotions about the fact that I'll become the first Indian woman footballer to get a century of international caps for the country. I'm proud of my hard work and consistency.
"I would like to thank my teammates that I was able to play with them for so long and perform at a high level together."
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