Suzhou (China): A gritty India thwarted a wave of Chinese onslaughts to play out a remarkable goalless draw in an international football friendly played for the first time after 21 years between the two countries here Saturday.
Chinese forwards’ goal drought continued while the Indians, especially the back-four of captain Sandesh Jhingan, Narayan Das, Pritam Kotal and Subhasish Bose, played their hearts out to held their nerves till the end. Gurpreet Singh Sandhu also played a major role denying the home side at least on four occasions.
India had two very good chances on either side of the breather, one from Kotal and another from substitute Farukh Choudhary, and a couple of half chances.
The Indian goal was under threat in the seventh minute but Jinghan made a timely clearance for a corner following Yu Dabao’s shot.
The Indians grew in confidence as the match wore on and they even had a very good chance in the 13th minute when Sunil Chhetri passed the ball back to Pranoy Halder who went diagonal to Anirudh Thapa who, in turn, laid it for an onrushing Kotal but his right footer was parried away by Chinese goalie Yan Junling.
India got a free kick in the 17th minute and Thapa’s delivery found an unmarked Chhetri making a first time shot but the ball sailed over.
Meanwhile, halfway through the first half, Gurpreet again pulled off a fine save as he blocked a low shot from Gao after a defensive mistake by the Indians.
The 71st minute also saw the Indian crossbar being rattled by a Wu Lei volley and it was pure luck for India as Gurpreet was completely beaten that time.
Five minutes later, Gurpreet again pulled off another fine save to deny a Xiao Zhi header from a corner.