Indian defender Adil Khan hopes to make another noteworthy contribution to his team’s cause when they take on Bangladesh in a Group E qualifier for the 2022 FIFA World Cup and AFC Asian Cup 2023 at the Jassim bin Hamad Stadium today.
When the teams clashed earlier in October 2019, it was Khan’s header with two minutes remaining in the match that helped India draw Bangladesh 1-1 and clinch a valuable point in Kolkata.
“The match will always be a hallmark in my life. I had fought my way back to the National team after a spell of injuries that had kept me out of football for long. I was so motivated,” Khan wrote in a column for the AIFF website on the eve of the return match against Bangladesh.
His father was undergoing heart surgery on the day when he was playing that match.
“When I met my dad (after the surgery) I told him about my goal for India. He had never missed any match since my Academy days wherein he used to travel long distances to watch me play. I felt proud of not letting him down, and obviously, he was proud of his son making a mark for the country. Life is made of such moments.”
Khan was travelling to the stadium when he got the news that his father was to undergo a heart operation the same day.
“Honestly, I was a bit devastated. My dad has been the biggest football fan and my inspiration. I felt helpless. As we approached the stadium on the day, I could see the hordes of fans heading for the cauldron,” he wrote.
“I will never forget the roar that greeted us when we walked in. It made me forget everything. For a man, there are days when you feel possessed, possessed with faith and belief that you are invincible on that day. I wanted to dive deep into my National team colours — my desperation to find solace — I wanted to be the son of the soil.
“I looked at the packed stands. They had come from distant corners to watch us, they sacrificed other priorities to watch me. I needed to pay them back,” he wrote.
Bangladesh took the lead in the 42nd minute through Saad Uddin.
“Bangladesh were stubborn. It was hard to break them. We tried everything, but it didn’t pan out the way we wanted it to go, and as we headed into the half-time, we were a goal down. In the second half, we went all out. But the ball just didn’t go in. There were misses, deflections, goal-line saves, and it made us start to wonder: ‘Is today one of those days?’”
With a few minutes left in the match, India found a lifeline when they earned a corner.
“Until now, [Sunil] Chhetri bhai was making the runs to the first post, but he was understandably heavily marked. In fact, just a few minutes earlier, he did manage to shake off his marker and glide a header off the first post, but it went wide.
“As I watched Brandon [Fernandes] walk up to take the corner, I gestured to him. Both of us were roommates for that trip to Kolkata, and we used to talk a lot about a goal that I had scored for Churchill Brothers from one of his corners, back in our days in the Hero I-League.”
Khan said he told Chhetri that he would make that run to the first post.
“Brandon, as usual, was spot on. I somehow managed to leap and connect with the ball properly, and it generated the power and the angle required. I saw the net bulging and heard the roar — some 70,000 people were relieved, cheering my goal, for my country. Life is certainly made of such moments — I went blind, I went deaf. That roar will stay with me forever.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t have much time to score another.”
Indian defender Adil Khan. (AIFF)
