Watch: A collection of Sunil Chhetri’s best international goals for Indian football team

Indian football captain Sunil Chhetri on Friday completed 15 years of international career on Friday since making his debut in Quetta against Pakistan in a friendly series in 2005.

Chhetri is not only the player with the most national caps in India but also the team’s all-time leading goalscorer, with a stunning tally of 72 goals as of the date he finished 15 years in international football. He is the second-highest international scorer among active footballers, behind Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo.

Read - Why Sunil Chhetri is the finest match-winner in Indian football history

While shouldering the burden of scoring goals for the country for many years now, Chhetri has scored some stunning goals. From beautiful volleys to pin-point headers, Chhetri’s versatility shines through when one looks at his best efforts during his international career.

Chhetri scored his first international goal on his debut against Pakistan. And his latest international goal came against Oman during India’s 2022 World Cup qualifier opener last year where he found the net from a set-piece.

Read - Data check: As Chhetri completes 15 years in international football, a look at his career in numbers

But arguably his best-ever goal was the one he scored against Krygystan during an AFC Asian Cup qualifier in 2017.

Chhetri received the ball deep in his half and went past three markers before finding Jeje Lalpekhlua on the right. The India captain then made his way into the penalty box and latching on to a lob pass from Lalpekhlua, he calmly slotted the ball past the keeper on the volley to record a goal for the ages.

The 35-year-old is, incidentally, the only Indian footballer to record three hat-tricks which have come against Tajikistan, Chinese Taipei and Vietnam.

Here’s a compilation of Chhetri’s best-ever international goals: