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India U-19 women's team registered their second win in the SAFF U-19 Women's Championship after blanking Bhutan 3-0. The match took place at the BSSS Mostafa Kamal Stadium in Dhaka on Wednesday.
Sumati Kumari opened the scoring with Priyangka Devi adding a brace as India went top of the table with six points from two matches. The young blue tigresses had earlier beaten Sri Lanka in the tournament opener.
Coach Alex Ambrose made as many as nine changes to the team that put five past Sri Lanka. Only captain Shilky Devi and defender Nirmala Devi retained their spots in the XI.
India took an early lead once again. Sumati Kumari turned in Amisha Baxla's superb low cross from the right flank in the seventh minute. The forward was left unmarked near the six-yard box and tapped-in past the Bhutanese keeper to make it 1-0.
It was clear early on that Bhutan would not be sitting back deep and instead challenge for the ball in midfield. India were able to overpower them out wide thanks to the pace of Sumati and Amisha on the left and right flanks respectively.
Priyangka Devi doubled India's lead with a sensational free-kick just before half-time. The goalkeeper stood no chance as her left-footed strike nestled into the top-left corner for 2-0. It was the Manipuri's second goal of the tournament from outside the box. She scored from a similar left-footed attempt in the opening fixture against Sri Lanka.
Priyangka netted her second of the night and India's third only a few minutes after the restart. Lurking just inside the area, she guided Kritina Devi's inch-perfect delivery from her right foot into the bottom corner. That finish made her the tournament's top-scorer with three goals.
India could have added a few more goals on the night had they been more clinical. Striker Lynda Kom had a frustrating night up front as she struggled to time her runs and was caught offside on multiple occasions.
Kinzang Dema, the Bhutanese keeper, was on top of her game and denied Lynda from close range a couple of times. The closest she came to scoring was in the 69th minute. She evaded two challenges from the Bhutan players to launch a left-footed attempt which came off the crossbar.
In the 71st minute, winger Amisha Baxla was stretchered off after picking up a knock and had to be replaced by Santhiya Nadupatti. Coach Ambrose will hope the injury isn't a major one since she has been one of the team's best forwards this tournament.
India goalkeeper Anshika had a rather comfortable evening as she only had to make a few routine saves. The defense, spearheaded by centre-back Nirmala Devi, has now kept consecutive clean sheets in the tournament. However, coach Ambrose will know that much bigger tests lie in the coming matches against Nepal and Bangladesh.
The young Indian side will next take on hosts and defending champions Bangladesh on Friday, December 17th at 02:30 PM IST. The top two sides at the end of the round-robin stage will face-off in the final on December 22nd.
