India beat Nepal 2-0; Chhetri becomes India's highest scorer

India outplayed Nepal 2-0 in an international football friendly here today with captain Sunil Chhetri scoring a goal to become the country's most prolific striker in national colours.
Chhetri gave India the lead with a 21st minute strike to go past former captain Bhaichung Bhutia's 42 international goals before Clifford Miranda added another in the 49th as India produced a dominant display over Nepal at the Kanchenjunga Stadium.
The win, which avenged India's 1-2 defeat against the same opponents in the SAFF Championships, was also the first international friendly victory for Wim Koevermans as head coach this year.
India had lost to Palestine (2-4) and Tajikistan (0-3) earlier in the year before drawing against Philippines 1-1 on November 16 here.

Bhaichung, who watch the match from the stands, came down at the pitch after the match and congratulated Chhetri with a hug for surpassing his record.
The build-up for India's first goal came from Clifford Miranda on the left. Robin Singh, whose physical presence was a constant threat for Nepal, headed in Clifford's cross but could not beat the rival goalkeeper Kiran Limbu. But Chhetri was there to slot the ball home for his 43rd goal to the wild cheer of the 15,000-odd crowd.

Most of play remained confined to Nepal half in the first session and their goalkeeper Limbu had a busy day under the bar while his Indian counterpart Karanjit Singh rarely collected the ball

Once Limbu palmed Robin's right-footer, the other time, he gathered Chhetri's powerful right-footer from close. The Nepalese goalkeeper had to tip over those several aerial crosses from the flanks as India went into the interval with a 1-0 lead.
Just four minutes after change of ends, Clifford doubled the lead for India. The counter-attack was initiated by Mehtab who laid Robin on the right flank. Robin's grounder was neatly tapped in by Miranda in the 49th minute.