Chhetri’s relentless pursuit to elevate India’s standard

Sunil Chhetri’s time in international football, which ended on Thursday with the 0-0 draw against Kuwait in a 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification game, will go down as one of the few that militated against this accepted idea.

The onset of old age often marks the beginning of an existential crisis. In the sporting realm, it is the first confrontation athletes have with the finitude of their careers. They repeatedly attempt to feel a sense of transcendence only for the mask of invincibility to slip ever so slightly.

Sunil Chhetri’s time in international football, which ended on Thursday with the 0-0 draw against Kuwait in a 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification game, will go down as one of the few that militated against this accepted idea.

He played for India for a little under 19 years, in a record 151 matches, scoring a record 94 goals, all of it in full bloom, neither burning out nor fading away.

Chhetri first turned out for India in 2005 when football’s popularity was geographically constrained.

The likes of I.M. Vijayan and Bhaichung Bhutia were indeed famous in the hot-beds such as Kerala, Goa and the east of India, but they weren’t pan-Indian stars in a true sense.

Chhetri can stake claim to have been the first such hero. He was the captain for a dozen years, carrying the nation’s hopes every time he set foot on the pitch, so much so that the National team’s identity became synonymous with his.

In team sport, there is a mythical idea of a selfless athlete who shuns individual glory. There is also the popular adage that the leader is only as good as his team. Chhetri was ambitious yet humble, and his greatness may lie in his relentless pursuit to make the team as good as him.