Just eight months after announcing his retirement from international football, Indian legend Sunil Chhetri is set to make his national team debut. They will face Bangladesh in the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers in the March FIFA window. Chhetri’s return was announced on Indian football’s X (formerly Twitter) account. The former captain’s name is even included in India’s announced squad.
Sunil Chhetri played 150 matches in international football in 19 years before announcing his retirement. In which he scored 94 goals, which is the most for India and the third highest goal scorer in the world in the national team jersey. Although he left international football, he was playing for clubs. In the meantime, he is returning to the national team. According to the country’s media reports, Indian coach Manolo Marquez played a role in bringing the star footballer back to the team.
The Indian team’s attack had been in disarray since Sunil Chhetri’s retirement. Despite playing one match after another, the players were unable to score goals. So Chhetri came out of retirement just before the Asian Cup qualifiers to help the Blue Tigers turn things around.
Sunil played his last international match on June 6. His farewell match was against Kuwait at the Yuva Bharati Stadium. However, he had decided to continue playing club football even after saying goodbye to international football. He was in great form in the Bengaluru FC jersey. Statistics say that Sunil has scored a dozen goals since his retirement from the national team.
Seeing Sunil’s impeccable form, national team coach Manolo Marquez decided to bring Sunil back to the Indian team. Someone like the legendary footballer was needed to boost the attack. The Indian coach himself took the initiative to talk to Sunil. He also encouraged Sunil to come out of retirement and return to the national team. Finally, one of the greatest Indian footballers of all time has agreed to play for the national team again.
India’s first match in the Asian Cup qualifiers is on March 25. However, before playing against Bangladesh, Team India will play a warm-up match. The match will be played against Maldives in Shillong on March 19. Then the match against Bangladesh. Sunil can be seen on the field from March 19. Marquez has also announced the Indian team for the FIFA window with him. However, goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu has been notably left out of that team.
