There’s a Sunil in the Indian team for the CAFA Nations Cup but it isn’t Chhetri.
Naming his first squad since being chosen as the chief coach of the Indian football team, Khalid Jamil has taken a punt on a few new faces. Among them is Sunil Benchamin, a defender with the Army who seems to have caught his attention during the ongoing Durand Cup.
A glaring miss, however, is Sunil Chhetri — the Indian talisman who retired in 2024, returned this year and now isn’t there in the probable list of 35 players for the Central Asian tournament that will be held in Hisor, Tajikistan, August 29 onwards.
There is no explanation yet on why Chhetri hasn’t been included in the squad — neither from the player nor the federation, who said that ‘selection questions should be asked to the head coach’. Jamil wasn’t available for comments.
Bengaluru FC — the club Chhetri plays for — recently suspended the salaries of its first-team and staff due to the uncertainty surrounding the Indian Super League (ISL). The ISL’s future is up in the air following a deadlock over the extension of the agreement between Football Sports Development Limited (the body that runs the league) and the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and a case pending in the Supreme Court.
There are other players from Bengaluru in Jamil’s squad, including goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, defenders Chinglensana Singh, Rahul Bheke, Roshan Singh Naorem, and midfielder Suresh Singh.
Question over Chhetri’s future
Chhetri’s absence from the team raises questions over his future after he was forced to step out of retirement by former coach Manolo Marquez. The 41-year-old took international retirement after playing against Kuwait in June last year. However, after India struggled for goals and to win a match under Marquez’s turbulent tenure, Chhetri returned for national duty in the game against the Maldives in March.
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Marquez reasoned that Chhetri could help the team in the third round of the Asian Cup qualifiers. He had some impact, too — in the four matches, he scored a goal in the team’s 3-0 win over the Maldives.
India are in a difficult position to qualify for the continental championships in 2027, having drawn 0-0 against Bangladesh and losing to Hong Kong 0-1. In between, India lost 0-2 to Thailand in an international friendly match. Marquez quit after the string of poor performances by the team.
Jamil became the first Indian coach to be given charge of the national team in more than a decade. He was appointed after the technical committee of the AIFF decided to reward him for his ability to grind out results with a string of domestic teams across different divisions.
India have been invited to play the CAFA tournament, where they will take on Tajikistan on August 29, Iran on September 1 and Afghanistan on September 4. The third-place match and the final will be played on September 8. The national team will resume its qualifying campaign in October.
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Training to begin in Bengaluru
Jamil’s 35-member squad for the CAFA tournament has a mix of players from across the ISL and a few from the Durand Cup. The AIFF said 22 players have reported to the camp that will begin training in Bengaluru from Saturday. The remaining 13 are expected to join the camp after completing their Durand Cup engagements with their respective clubs.
Out of the remaining 13, seven are from Mohun Bagan — Anirudh Thapa, Deepak Tangri, Lalengmawia Ralte, Liston Colaco, Manvir Singh, Sahal Abdul Samad, Vishal Kaith; three from East Bengal — Anwar Ali, Jeakson Singh, Naorem Mahesh Singh; and one, Jithin MS, from NorthEast United.
The AIFF said in a statement on Friday: “The AIFF urges all clubs to release National Team players for this crucial assignment, which also prepares the squad for the upcoming AFC Asian Cup 2027 qualifiers against Singapore (away and home).”
