Three lessons learnt from India's defeat against Bangladesh in AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers

Bangladesh won their first match of the AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers by thrashing India.

Indian football hit a new low in 2025 as the Indian football team suffered a horrible 1-0 loss to Bangladesh in their penultimate match of the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers 2027 on Tuesday (18 November 2025). The Blue Tigers played particularly inefficient and disappointing football, unable to penetrate the Bengal Tigers’ backline.

A lot of things went wrong for Khalid Jamil’s side in the dreadful outing for them. After conceding the early goal in the 11th minute through Shekh Morsalin, the Indian side had no answers for it and annoyed fans with some truly deplorable football.

This is arguably the biggest reality check for Khalid Jamil in his short tenure as the India football team coach so far. On that note, let’s take a look at the three lessons learnt from India’s crushing defeat.

3. Relying on long throws or set pieces is not the way forward

From the very first minute, India showed their cards to Bangladesh and insisted that they would rely on long throw-ins and set-pieces as their main source of attack. Jamil almost seemed to want India to win the throw-ins closer to the Bengal Tigers’ box, so that Rahul Bheke could go forward and take those long throws.

This not only led to a failure to create chances, but sending most of their players forward for throw-ins ultimately allowed Bangladesh to launch a swift counter-attack, resulting in Morsalin’s goal.

When they couldn’t do much from throw-ins, the Indian players started trying to earn indirect free kicks or corners to be able to put the ball into the danger areas inside the box. Unfortunately, India’s set-piece routine was just too predictable and was easily solved by the Bangladeshi players.

A major lesson Jamil has learned is that he cannot put all eggs in one basket in being overly reliant on set pieces or throw-ins as the major source of goal-scoring chances for India in a competitive international match like this.

2. Stop playing players out of natural positions

Khalid Jamil continues his strange habit of putting players in uncomfortable positions during Bangladesh matches, something which clearly came back to bite him. His strange obsession with Rahul Bheke in the right-back role continued, something which has not worked for a long time.

Bheke struggled to fulfil the duties of a right-back, not being able to help with any overlapping runs, stop Bangladesh’s transitions, or create any chances. In the front line, Lallianzuala Chhangte seemed really uncomfortable on the left wing.

Macarton Louis Nickson also seemed quite confused in the advanced midfield role in the first half. In the second half, Jamil brought on two promising wingers in Brison Fernandes and Mohammed Sanan. When it seemed like Sanan was thriving on the left wing and creating chances, Jamil forced him to swap positions with Brison, nullifying the threat of both players.

The Indian captain needs to stop experimenting with players in different positions and play them according to their strengths, so that they can play at their highest level.

1. Install much-needed creative players into the team

The main reason why India performed so poorly against Bangladesh is that their creative ability was poor during the match. The Blue Tigers didn’t have enough creative players in their lineup, and those who could potentially set up something special out of nothing.

The likes of Suresh Singh or Nikhil Prabhu couldn’t be expected to create anything, while Macarton Nickson, Lallianzuala Chhangte, and Vikram Partap Singh were too isolated to do anything. Jamil needs to learn that to win matches, he needs more creativity in his team and players who can make a difference in the clutch moments.

He needs players like Brandon Fernandes, Sahal Abdul Samad, or even Ryan Williams, who can put in those special final third passes or help with the overall build-up play to help create big chances more regularly. Unless India can solve their dearth in creativity, it will not be able to win such competitive matches under Khalid Jamil.

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