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India began their Intercontinental Cup 2018 campaign with a resounding victory over Chinese Taipei. Sunil Chhetri was the hero of the day as the Indian skipper grabbed a hattrick. In the end, the Blue Tigers comfortably cruised towards victory against a decent side.
India began on the front foot, with Udanta causing a lot of problems for the Taipei defence. The Bengaluru FC midfielder was once again at his brilliant best as he took on the Taipei side.
India struck within the first fifteen minutes of the match when Chhetri slotted home after some good work by Jeje. The forward was partnering Chhetri in attack and set up the first goal after some nice dribbling.
Chhetri scored his second goal after a magnificent move involving Jeje and Anirudh Thapa. The midfielder found Jeje who laid it off for the skipper to finish.
The captain went looking for his hattrick and found it on the hour mark. Once again, there was clever build-up play and once again, Chhetri finished calmly for his first hattrick in a while. Udanta Singh and Pranoy Halder scored either side of Chhetri's third goal to complete a memorable win for India.
Here is how both sets of players fared in today's encounter.
India
Gurpreet Singh Sandu (7/10): The Indian goalkeeper had relatively little to do as compared to his counterpart. However, Sandhu was at his best whenever called into action and kept an important clean sheet in India's opening fixture.
Pritam Kotal (6/10): The fullback was untroubled for most of the game. He also went on a few forward runs but didn't offer much going forward.
Anas Edathodika (7/10): Edathodika had to deal with waves of Taipei attack on a couple of occasions. However, he never lost his composure and looked confident in defence. He was substituted after 68 minutes.
Sandesh Jhingan (7/10): The Kerala Blasters' defender formed a solid partnership at the back with Anas and rarely let the Taipei side in.
Subhashish Bose (6/10): Bose also had a good game after recovering from an injury scare midway through the first half.
Anirudh Thapa (7/10): Thapa formed a double pivot in the midfield, sitting alongside Pranoy Halder. Thapa was instrumental in Chhetri's second goal after he started the move. He was all over the pitch helping India win back possession.
Pranoy Halder (8/10): The young midfielder had a good game and scored a beautiful goal and was instrumental in midfield.
Udanta Singh (8/10): The thrilling winger was involved in all things good for India throughout the game. He even managed to get himself a superb solo goal after creating loads of chances for the forwards.
Sunil Chhetri (9/10): The Indian skipper played off Jeje for the match and managed to grab a hattrick, his first in a while. Chhetri led from the front and put in a man of the match performance.
Halicharan Narzary (6/10): By far the quietest of the Indian attackers and missed a good chance.
Jeje Lalpekhlua (8/10): Jeje played up top and provided a couple of assists to Chhetri. He was a key figure in the Indian attack, made some good turns and paired up with his captain to cause havoc time and again.
Chinese Taipei
Wen-Chheh Pan (3/10): The Taipei goalkeeper had a miserable afternoon and conceded five goals in the opening fixture of the Intercontinental Cup.
Chien-Ming Wan (5/10):
The fullback had difficulty dealing with the Indian wingers and was on the wrong side of a thrashing.
Ting-Yan Chen (5/10): Had a terrible day at the office as India scored five unanswered goals.
Tzu-Kuei Hung (5/10): Sunil Chhetri and Jeje were running at the defence with ease. Conceded five goals.
Wei-Chuan Chen (4/10): The fullback had to face Udanta Singh and did not deal with him at all.
William Rupert James Donkin (6/10): A lot was expected from the youngster due to the fact that he currently represents Crystal Palace in England. However, he was not given enough time to shine.
Chang-Lun Lin (6/10): Lost the battle in midfield against Thapa and Halder. Halder even managed to score a stunning goal after a free run at the defence.
Chao-An Chen (5/10): Failed to provide ample cover to the defence as they ended up getting thrashed.
Yi-Wei Chen (5/10): Provided little service to the forwards. However, it was ultimately for nothing due to a lack of end product.
Hao-Wei Chen (6/10): Failed to trouble the Indian defence at all.
En-Le Chu (5/10): a Miserable day for the forward as the Indian defence marshalled him easily.
