A pathetic India allowed a 10-man Bangladesh to come back and score a shock goal after captain Sunil Chhetri’s 76th international strike to play out a 1-1 draw in their SAFF Championship opener in Male on Monday.

The 37-year-old Chhetri, playing in his 121st match for India, struck in the 27th minute to place himself just a goal shy of legendary Brazilian Pele (77 goals from 92 matches). He is now in the fourth spot on the list of highest scorers among active footballers, behind Cristiano Ronaldo (111), Lionel Messi (79) and UAE’s Ali Mabkhout (77).

India are ranked 107 and Bangladesh 189 in the Fifa rankings.

India were the better side in the first half and even though they lost possession quite often, they were cruising. They also had numerical advantage from the 54th minute onwards after Bangladesh player Biswanath Ghosh was sent off for committing a foul on Liston Colaco.

But Igor Stimac’s men failed to stop the swift counter-attacking Bangladeshis in their tracks and conceded a goal in the 74th minute to share points, much to the dismay of the Indian camp.

Bangladesh have always been a difficult opponent for India who had needed a late equaliser to draw the first leg of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers in Calcutta in October 2019 before winning 2-0 in the second leg.

Chhetri strikes

India were in the attacking mode right from the start but a swift counter-attack from Bangladesh almost caught them napping and central defender Chinglensana Singh made a crucial clearance after Ibrahim whipped in a low cross from the left for Motin Mia.

Bangladesh also got a few corners but India started to dictate terms after that with Udanta Singh, who returned after missing two Nepal friendlies, managing to outwit his marker and providing crosses from the flank.

Manvir Singh had a feeble head-in from one such cross in the 24th minute but Chhetri was not the one to miss the other one three minutes later. Pritam Kotal released Udanta on the right. The latter’s cut back from near the byline saw a perfectly-placed Chhetri smashing it into the roof of the net.

Liston Colaco, who had an impressive outing, had a go at the Bangladesh goal in the 36th minute without any success. Three minutes later, Chhetri had another powerful left-footed strike but goalkeeper Anisur Rahman pulled off a diving save

Red card

India survived a scare in the 40th minute, this time also from a swift counter-attack from Bangladesh. But goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu made a diving save against Biplo Ahmed’s shot to keep the lead intact.

Stimac replaced Anirudh Thapa by bringing Brandon Fernandes in the middle of the park on resumption and India also got a numerical advantage after Ghosh was sent off for commiting a foul on Colaco with only goalkeeper Anisur Rahman Zico in front.

Three minutes before that, however, Bangladesh had a chance to equalise but Rakib Hossain shot wide after finding himself free inside the Indian box. Goalkeeper Zico made a double save in the 61st minute when he blocked shots from Manvir and Udanta.

Poor defending

Stimac substituted Colaco with Lalengmawia and Udanta with Rahim Ali just after the hour mark. But Bangladesh, playing under new coach Oscar Bruzon after the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, pulled one back in the 74th minute.

Yeasin Arafat sent a diving header from a swinging corner kick into the Indian goal much to the delight of the Bangladesh camp and supporters. Strangely, none of the Indian players bothered to mark Arafat who got a free header.

Bangladesh now have with four points from two games, while India one point from as many games.