Calcutta: In one of the most endearing messages for the India U-17 squad, senior team captain Sunil Chetri on Thursday sought "forgiveness for being jealous" of the junior squad.

India's highest goal scorer in internationals, Chetri, in an emotionally charged message, told the boys to "take the stage" as the seniors "take the stands", bringing out the fan in them.

"It's less than a day before your big moment and I am not sure if this letter will make it past the wall, to the zone you have stepped into. But if it does manage to sneak in somehow, all of us at Bengaluru FC would like you boys, who will pull on that blue shirt tomorrow, to know something," Chetri wrote in his message to the U-17 squad, which was posted on Bengaluru FC's official twitter handle.

"Over the next one month, we turn fans of the first ever Indian team to play a football World Cup."

"It's a chance that most of us will almost certainly never get and you have to forgive us for being jealous of you. But pride is the bigger feeling here. You have trained hard and this is your time. Take the stage, we will take the stands. Come On, India!."