In 2001, an important tie in the Delhi Soccer Association league was delayed by an hour after a strange request was made by one of the competing clubs. They argued their main striker was yet to make it to the ground since he was busy writing his school examination. The boy finally appeared at the Ambedkar Stadium with playing kit in his hands and the school bag on his back. Hardly anyone made a fuss over his late arrival because the footballer, Sunil Chhetri, barely 16 at that time, had already become a huge hit in the local league because of his extraordinary skills.

Chhetri has grown in stature since then. Today, he is the captain of the national team and arguably the finest striker in Indian soccer history. With 80 goals to his credit, Chhetri is one of the top scorers in international football along with Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. But his impact on Indian football is much more – no one struck more goals than him when it came to crucial matches. Because of his efforts, India could make the final rounds of Asian Cup twice in 2011 and 2019. In 2008, his hat-trick against Tajikistan in the AFC Challenge Cup final in Delhi will long be remembered as it paved India’s Asian Cup qualification after 24 years. In 2018, he again scored winning goals against Myanmar and Kyrgyzstan to ensure India’s qualification for Asian Cup.

Recently, Chhetri has been named for the prestigious Khel Ratna, India’s highest sporting award, the first footballer to get this. Though pushing 37, Chhetri, on the pitch, looks as agile as any of his much younger teammates. In the 1950s, a question was often asked in Indian political circle – after Nehru, who? An almost similar question now regularly pops up in Indian football since none of the current strikers have shown the ability to remotely match their skipper. But Chhetri says many talented players are coming up. Hope he proves right, as he often does in front of the goalmouth.