Dhaka, Nov. 5 -- Suhail Ahmad Bhat struck a brace as defending champions India began their SAFF Championships campaign with a 3-2 victory over arch-rivals Pakistan in a group match here on Thursday.
Bhat, who hails from Srinagar, scored in the 13th and 19th minutes while Manglenthang Kipgen struck in the 31st minute as India led 3-0 at half time.
Pakistan scored two goals in the stoppage time to salvage some pride with Najeeb Ullah (90+1) and Alamgir Ghazi (90+4) finding the target in the Group B match played at the National Stadium here.
India fielded a second string side under the charge of Under-23 coach Naushad Moosa with the first team set to play two away international friendly matches against New Zealand on November 12 and 15.
Moosa had only 17 players at his disposal for Thursday's match as the Indian Super League (ISL) clubs are yet to release some of their
players for the tournament with the game not falling in the FIFA match window (November 9 to 17).
The ISL clubs are expected to release their players for the next match against Maldives on November 11. Then, the squad is expected to have 28 players.
Pakistan were also without the likes of Abdullah Iqbal, the Danish-born defender who plays for Mjallby AIF in Sweden, as the
match does not fall inside the FIFA window.
India began cautiously, building patiently from the back and looking to establish control through the midfield, with Abhishek Suryavanshi operating in a deep role.
Bhat thought he had opened the scoring in the 12th minute after getting on the end of an aerial ball from Kipgen,
but the goal was ruled out for offside.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.