Three India players who wasted their chance to impress Khalid Jamil at CAFA Nations Cup

India clinched a historic bronze medal in their first-ever CAFA Nations Cup appearance.

The CAFA Nations Cup turned out to be an exciting start to the Khalid Jamil era for the Indian football team, as they were able to make a statement in the competition. The Blue Tigers were able to fight their way to a third-place finish in their first-ever participation in the tournament, showing a newfound grit and resiliency under Jamil’s playing style.

There were a few standout performers from the win, especially when it comes to the defensive side. The likes of Anwar Ali, Nikhil Prabhu and Muhammed Uvais had a pretty solid tournament, while Gurpreet Singh Sandhu was one of the standouts for his side. With that being said, it’s not like every single player performed at the best level possible.

The Blue Tigers faced issues in their attacking coordination and in terms of applying the right tactics on transitions or counterattacks. There were a few Indian players who probably wasted their opportunity to impress the gaffer with their relatively underwhelming performances at the CAFA Nations Cup. Here we look at three such individuals.

Also Read: India’s standout stars from CAFA Nations Cup 2025 campaign

3. Lallianzuala Chhangte

Lallianzuala Chhangte was the most experienced forward in the India squad in the CAFA Nations Cup and expected to lead as a leader in the frontline. However, he only ended up starting one single match for the Blue Tigers in their four games at the CAFA Nations Cup.

He was brought on as a substitute on the other occasions, but failed to really spark up the Blue Tigers’ attacking threat against tired defenders.

He was able to get into some nice positions and create a few decent chances, but Chhangte failed to really elevate the attacking threat for India.

He couldn’t really get into any goal-scoring chances, nor come close to testing goalkeepers with his shooting. In a tournament when many senior Indian forwards like Sunil Chhetri, Liston Colaco and Manvir Singh couldn’t play, Chhangte ended up wasting his opportunity to win over Jamil and assert his role in the Indian side.

2. Vikram Partap Singh

With Khalid Jamil wanting high energy levels and a fighting spirit among his forwards, he opted to call up Mumbai City FC man Vikram Partap Singh to his squad for the CAFA Nations Cup.

The 24-year-old forward had the opportunity to prove his quality at the international stage, but he failed to really stand out with his performances.

Indeed, Vikram did provide some decent defensive contribution as he tracked back willingly to help his backline sustain themselves against pressure. However, Vikram was inefficient when it came to his real duty of causing trouble in the opposition half.

He was not really able to trouble defenders with his movement and lacked that creative spark to elevate his side’s attacking threat. Vikram was able to get at the end of some decent chances in the game, but ended up wasting everything that came at his way to finish the CAFA Nations Cup with zero goal contributions.

Because of the sheer level of competition among wingers for places in the Indian frontline, Vikram might face a tough task at regaining his role in the India squad going forward.

1. Irfan Yadwad

With Khalid Jamil opting to rest Sunil Chhetri for the CAFA Nations Cup, he decided to try out some of the other available centre-forward options at his disposal. His first-choice no.9 option for the tournament ended up being Chennaiyin FC forward Irfan Yadwad, who had a huge chance to win over the gaffer.

However, the end result was really poor. The Chennaiyin FC man had a really underwhelming competition in which he failed to really test the opposition players. Yadwad was not able to pull his weight around in the frontline, failing to trouble defenders with his movement or link-up play in the final third.

He was not able to test the goalkeepers despite getting into some nice areas, fluffing his shots on the majority of the occasions.

Yadwad ended up getting zero goal contributions and after his disappointing performances in the tournament, he’s unlikely to get many more chances as India’s primary centre-forward option going forward.

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