Eyes on the prize: Chhetri’s assured kick gave India the proper begin within the penalties.| Photo Credit: Okay. MURALI KUMAR

India beat Lebanon 4-2 on penalties on the Sree Kanteerava Stadium on Saturday to enter the SAFF Championship ultimate.

The tie was goalless till the tip of extra-time, and within the ensuing shoot-out, India was flawless. Sunil Chhetri, Anwar Ali, Naorem Mahesh and Udanta Singh didn’t even enable the Lebanon goalie to guess proper, bulging the web with aplomb.

For the guests, captain Hassan Maatouk missed the opening spot-kick, earlier than Khalil Bader blasted the fourth into the stands to usher the tip. In Tuesday’s ultimate, India will meet Kuwait, which beat Bangladesh 1-0 after extra-time.

On the day, India modified as many as 5 of its six defensive gamers – considered one of them was pressured due to Sandesh Jhingan’s absence – with solely Anwar Ali retaining his place from the draw in opposition to Kuwait. And the rejigged defence was sliced open at will, particularly within the opening 10 minutes.

Nader Matar fluffed a volley from shut vary within the first minute earlier than Zein Al Farran missed a one-on-one. For India, Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, chosen over Amrinder Singh in objective, sprayed a couple of lengthy balls to shift the motion to the opposite finish, however to no avail.

But the hosts might have taken the lead within the sixteenth minute when Jeakson Singh was despatched via by Chhetri, just for the previous to sq. the ball to Sahal Abdul Samad, who was clearly offside.

That transfer although helped abate the preliminary stress from Lebanon, and the competition thereafter was even-stevens. This was till the harmful Maatouk took it upon himself to interrupt open the sport; with minutes remaining for the break, he curled in a splendid freekick, however Gurpreet was as much as the duty.

The two sides cancelled out one another for giant tracts of the second half. India’s stand-in coach Mahesh Gawli launched Akash Mishra and Mahesh with roughly quarter-hour left to inject some much-needed spark.

And the recent legs confirmed as the house staff pressured Lebanon to earn 4 corners in 5 minutes. Aleksandar Ilic’s males, although, held on, pushing the tie into extra-time.

Minutes in, Chhetri might have sealed it for India. A peach of a drive from distance discovered the best match in Lebanon goalie Mehdi Khalil, however the skipper missed a second probability from six yards out. In the second instalment of added-time, Udanta practically scored with a mazy run and Lallianzuala Chhangte pressured a save in direction of the tip. Ultimately none of it proved expensive.

The outcomes: India 0 bt Lebanon 0 [4-2 on penalties]; Kuwait 1 (Abdullah Al Buloushi 105+2) bt Bangladesh 0.