Sakyasen Mittra
Since the day, Baichung Bhutia announced his retirement from football, his ardent disciple Sunil Chhetri said that his responsibilities had increased manifold. Keeping in mind, India’s poor stature in world football rankings, Chhetri has been a real revelation. Not only has this forward delivered in crunch situations… he has also emerged the top scorer for the country with 53 goals. A tremendous achievement indeed with the opposition fully aware that ‘blocking’ Chhetri in any match against India is half the game won.
The recent triumph in the SAFF Cup final over Afghanistan once more underlined Chhetri’s importance to Indian football. He led the team from the front and scored the winning goal to help the hosts emerge champions and exact sweet revenge for the loss India had suffered to the same side two years ago. The win is ‘very, very special’ in Chhetri’s career, but at the same time the man remains modest.
“Yes, going into the tournament, there were doubts about how we would perform,” states Chhetri after reaching Bangalore to start his I-League preparations in right earnest. “Critics had written us off and no one expected us to win against Afghanistan. I have won many important matches in my life… but this win will remain very special. We were a young, inexperienced side against Afghanistan and yet everyone performed admirably. It restored our belief in ourselves,” he adds.
But at the same time, in spite of being adjudged the ‘most valuable player’ of the SAFF Cup, the pint-sized yet dynamic striker is not ready to take the lion’s share of credit. “I think in football, this ‘valuable’ concept should go,” he points out candidly. “A player cannot be valuable unless his teammates help him. It is a team game… individuals alone cannot win a game of soccer,” Chhteri asserts.
But then what makes him such a dangerous player to the opposition. Defender of yesteryears Subrata Bhattacharya, who played for Mohun Bagan and then coached some clubs, feels that Chhetri has a ‘hidden’ speed (chora gati) which makes him dangerous. “You cannot mark him all the time. His speed is his asset. He may be two steps behind you and then all of a sudden, pronto he is gone. It is this hallmark that has made him into a great striker,” points out Bhattacharya.
Bhutia on the other hand feels that Chhetri’s never-say-die attitude has stood him in good stead. “Look we (him and Chhetri) are short-statured and we lack the strength that foreign strikers usually possess,” states Bhutia. “The good quality is that he (Chhetri) never gives up. He continues to chase every ball and the results are there for everyone to see. He deserves to be the top scorer of India.”
Such is the modesty of Chhetri, that he doesn’t have single picture of himself on his ‘what’s app’ profile. He also explains that he doesn’t have any ambition of ever loading a football-related picture as his profile. “If I do so in the future… it will be of the whole Indian team with the SAFF trophy. After all I alone can’t take credit for the successes. It is a job shared and job well done,” he confesses candidly.
The 31-year-old also refuses to be drawn into comparisons with Bhutia. Facts like that he has a better goal average than his predecessor only invokes steely silence. But then would he mind being called the best- ever Indian footballer? Pat comes the reply: “That is for you guys to decide. On my part I can say that in soccer there shouldn’t be comparisons and I have never played thinking about records. I have scored many times but I don’t remember the goals where India or my side has lost. Those goals are of no value, but yes certainly, the SAFF Cup final goal will forever be etched in my memory.”
The striker is quick to add: “I hate comparisons with Baichung. We grew up watching him. He was my senior and I learnt a lot from him. So how can I be compared to him? It is wrong and should stop immediately.”
India has seen many great footballers, starting from T Aao (India’s first Olympic captain) to the likes of PK Banerjee, Balaram, Chuni Goswami, Inder Singh, IM Vijayan and Bhutia. A few years later when Chhetri hangs up his boots, he will surely find his name in that elite list. Even though short in height, his deeds make him stand out like a Colossus in Indian football.
