India’s 1-2 loss to Oman in the 2022 World Cup qualifier on Thursday showed two things have not changed.

First, India still do not know how to maintain the shape in the last 10 minutes of a match. Second, there is nobody other than Sunil Chhetri who they can look up to when it comes to scoring goals. Chhetri was on target on Thursday too scoring a brilliant goal.

“It’s time the Udanta Singhs, Ashique Kuruniyans and Lallianzula Chhangtes realise that they have to stand up and be counted. We cannot expect Sunil to deliver in every match. He is 35 now. Udanta is no longer a youngster... he is playing for Bengaluru FC since 2014. If he doesn’t realise now, when will he?” former India captain Rennedy Singh, who was in Guwahati to watch the match, told The Telegraph on Friday morning.

Bhaichung Bhutia, another former India captain, though offered a different perspective to India’s performance.

“India played their best first-half in many years. The scary thing is to play brilliantly and still lose three points. It’s scary. The real challenge will be to repeat the first-half performance in every match from here on. That’s something coach (Igor Stimac) will have to work on,” he said.

Udanta missed a golden opportunity early in the match when his shot from close hit the woodwork. “He should have converted that. I am not seeing the wingers and the midfielders scoring for the national team. It’s a worrying sign,” was Alvito D’Cunha’s take.

“Then how do you justify Chhangte’s miss? He could not reach the ball and remember he came on as a substitute. He had fresh legs,” Alvito said. Chhangte failed to reach a Manvir Singh delivery from the right with an open goal in front of him. The match was levelled at 1-1 at that point in time.

Central defender Sandesh Jhinghan, who otherwise had a good match, made a mess of a free header in the first half. “That was also a chance which went abegging. In matches like these you have to convert chances.

“Oman are a tough team to beat and we learnt it the hard way. We had such a fantastic first half and should have sealed the match. Everyone knew Oman would come back stronger in the second half,” Rennedy rued.

India leaked in two late goals (82nd and 89th) and Dipendu Biswas, who is currently the Mohammedan Sporting technical director, felt the defence should have been more cautious. “I am sure the coach would show (Rahul) Bheke where he made the mistake while conceding the second goal.

“Bheke, during his East Bengal days some seasons back, used to make mistakes, which cost his team dearly. He is still doing the same. Thanks to Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, we did not concede too many,” Dipendu said.

Rennedy thought Bheke should not have gone for the challenge against the Oman forward (Al-Mandhar Al Alawi). “It was simple lack of experience. The moment Al Mandhar took Bheke in his stride, it looked ominous to me. Also Sandesh could have closed him down.”

Bhaichung also agreed that the defence has to be tighter. “Yes, the back-four will have to be more compact. Defensively, India have to work very hard.”

Alvito doesn’t think fitness is an issue. “No, I do not think fitness is an issue. It’s just lack of experience. These boys are supremely fit.”

And so what about our chances going forward?

“The way we played in the first half, it gives me a lot of confidence. Yes, we have a tough match coming up next Tuesday. Qatar are the Asian champions and we have a mountain to climb. But against Afghanistan and Bangladesh, we must win both home and away. Those two teams will play defensive so India will find it difficult to break them down,” Rennedy said.