Victorious: TheIndian staff with its ninth SAFF Championship title.| Photo Credit: Okay. MURALI KUMAR

For the second match operating, Gurpreet Singh Sandhu starred for India because it beat Kuwait 5-4 on penalties (sudden-death) to raise its ninth SAFF Championship title on the Sree Kanteerava Stadium right here on Tuesday.

In the penalty shootout that ensued after the tie had completed 1-1, Sunil Chhetri  — by way of a nerveless crazy shot — Sandesh Jhingan, Lallianzuala Chhangte and Subhashish Bose scored for India whereas Udanta Singh missed.

For Kuwait, Mohammed Abdullah’s spot-kick, the primary within the sequence, clattered off the bar. However, Fawaz Alotaibi, Ahmad Aldhefeery, Abdulaziz Mahran and Shabaib Alkhaldi stretched it to sudden-death.

Once there, Naorem Mahesh slammed his penalty residence earlier than Gurpreet dived to his left to thwart Kuwait captain Khaled Hajiah and gave India its second trophy in underneath a month. But, three hours earlier it was Kuwait that began brightly, taking the lead within the 14th minute with a blistering transition. Right-back Abdullah Albloushi was launched on the overlap and his low cross into the field was tapped in by Alkhaldi.

But the Indians’ temper didn't dampen and so they practically equalised off the very subsequent transfer. It required a diving effort from goalie Abdulrahman Marzouq to avoid wasting a Chhetri shot from distance earlier than Chhangte’s rebound was cleared.

Just when India was clawing its manner again, defender Anwar Ali needed to be stretchered off after he pulled a muscle in his proper leg. A aim down, and with a key participant out, the evening was turning bitter for India.

However, some excellent mixture play within the closing third within the thirty eighth minute introduced Chhetri & Co. proper again into the competition and lifted the 26,000-strong crowd.

After accumulating the ball from Ashique Kuruniyan on the left, Chhetri launched Sahal Abdul Samad with a toe-poke. The latter unselfishly squared the ball and a sliding Chhangte completed off the transfer from the proper. India’s depth didn’t reduce even after the change of ends. In a bid to disrupt, Kuwait upped its physicality, however apart from incomes just a few yellow playing cards, it did treasured little.

The futility of the technique quickly evident, the guests went again to prioritising the soccer over their our bodies. A few half-chances fell their manner and so it did for the Indians because the match, inevitably, slipped into extra-time.

Over the subsequent half-hour, each goalkeepers have been hardly threatened. India got here the closest with barely minutes left on the clock, however Chhangte blasted over from a decent angle on the left flank. The followers gasped in disbelief nevertheless it was not lengthy earlier than they'd have their hero in Gurpreet as soon as once more.

The outcome: India 1 (Chhangte 38) drew with Kuwait 1 (Alkhaldi 14). India gained 5-4 on penalties (sudden-death).