The moment Sunil Chhetri got up from his chair, the jam-packed press conference room at the Salt Lake Stadium rose in unison and gave a standing ovation to the captain.

This was his last pre-match news conference as a India player. Thursday will be his final match in India colours. “Inside me, I’m fighting a small battle,” Chhetri said moments after arriving for the news conference.

Thursday’s World Cup Qualifier against Kuwait is a crucial match for India as a victory will put them on the brink of qualifying for the third round from Group A. On the other hand, a defeat will put them out of the reckoning.

If India succeed in doing that, it will be a first. Also in March, coach Igor Stimac had said if India failed to advance he would resign. No wonder the Croat termed Thursday’s clash “the most important match of my life.”

India, 121 in Fifa rankings, had beaten the west Asian country in Kuwait City in the first leg in November last year. That was one of the memorable performances under Stimac, but India frittered it away with a string of poor results in the AFC Asian Cup and the World Cup Qualifiers.

The lowest moment was the 2-1 home defeat to Afghanistan in Guwahati in March. It was Chhetri’s 150th match and got his goal No. 94.

Now as he gets ready for the final shot, all that Chhetri wants is a victory and he is not bothered about what the margin would be and who could be the scorer.

“I feel the pressure. I’ve worked 19 years for the national team but have not been in this position before. This is huge because if we win, you know what’s in store. I am ready to get even a 1-0 victory,” Chhetri said.

India were listless in their last six matches — in five consecutive games they did not even score — and that has more to do with the reserve bench failing to deliver when called into action. “The bench did not have any positive impact. That was terrifying as a coach,” Stimac said.

But one thing that he avoided saying was that India hardly had any preparatory camps before the AFC Asian Cup or the World Cup qualifying games.

Whenever Stimac got longer camps, the team looked a transformed lot. The Asian Cup qualifying games in Calcutta in 2022 or the back-to-back tournaments like Inter-Continental Cup in Bhubaneswar and SAFF Championship in Bangalore in June-July last year both of which India won.

This time they had a camp in Bhubaneswar from the second week of May and landed in Calcutta on May 29 to continue with the preparations. “We are all ready,” Chhetri said.

Chhetri’s final hurrah has caught the imagination of the world. Luka Modric, the Real Madrid and Croatia superstar, in a video posted on X, congratulated the 39-year-old footballer. “You are an absolute legend,” Modric said.

A full house is also gearing up to give Chhetri a fitting farewell. There will be a glut of feliciations after the match too.

The state government, the All India Football Federation, the IFA, Mohun Bagan, East Bengal and the Army will honour the face of Indian football.