Indian football legend Sunil Chhetri scored a hat-trick in his team’s triumph in their SAFF Championship campaign opener against Pakistan and became the fourth-highest goal-scorer in International football history.

Now, he has taken his goal tally to 90 and has surpassed Mokhtar Dahari of Malaysia (with 89 goals) to climb to the fourth spot among the highest goal-scorers in international football.

Argentina FIFA World Cup- winning legend Lionel Messi (103 goals), Iran’s retired player Ali Daei (109 goals), and legendary Portugal striker Cristiano Ronaldo (123) are above Chhetri in the goal-scoring list.

Among the active players, Chhetri has the third-most goals by an international player, with only Messi (103 goals) and Cristiano Ronaldo (123 goals) ahead of him.

The Indian men’s football team ran roughshod over arch-rivals Pakistan in their opening game of the SAFF Championship 2023, putting four goals past a hapless rival defence at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengal on Wednesday.

Indian skipper Sunil Chhetri led from the front, scoring a hat-trick (10′, 16′, and 73′) followed by Udanta Singh Kumam’s goal in the 81st minute.

With this win, India has maintained the seventh straight clean sheet against their traditional rivals.

India positioned themselves at the top of the points table in Group A, having a better goal difference than Kuwait, who, earlier on Wednesday defeated Nepal 3-1 in the tournament opener.

India came into this tournament on the back of its title-winning campaign at the Intercontinental Cup, in 2023.