Three players who will be badly impacted by Sunil Chhetri's return for India

Sunil Chhetri will be keen to make his opportunity count against the Maldives.

Indian Super League (ISL) club Bengaluru FC striker Sunil Chhetri has stolen all the headlines with his surprising return to action for the Indian football team. The 40-year-old has come back from international retirement and is now ready to play in the upcoming games against the Maldives and Bangladesh during the March (2025) international break.

The Indian icon’s return was probably inspired by how well he performed for Bengaluru FC during the 2024-25 ISL regular season. He’s been the highest Indian goal-scorer in the competition with 12 goals in 23 appearances so far, pushing his side into the ISL playoffs. Chhetri remains one of the most prolific forwards Indian football has produced, and his international repertoire speaks for itself, as he’s currently on 94 goals.

While the 40-year-old’s return will definitely fire Manolo Marquez’s frontline, it can also spell trouble for some of the younger strikers aiming to break into the side. Chhetri will inadvertedly take up the spot of a younger forward once he plays for India, somewhat dampening their chances of gaining more experience as the India no.9.

Here we look at the three Indian players who will be badly impacted by Chhetri’s return:

3. Irfan Yadwad

Yadwad has enjoyed a pretty solid 2024-25 ISL campaign with Chennaiyin FC, being one of their more dangerous forwards. In the 11 matches he played as a centre-forward, the 23-year-old managed to score twice and provide an assist. He has three goals and four assists in 22 games, but the majority of his goals come from him being the centre-forward. Irfan did a pretty decent job as India’s centre-forward in their 1-1 draw against Malaysia in their last friendly game in November.

But his chances of spearheading the national team’s attack has now gone down with Chhetri’s return. Yadwad can operate in either of the two wide areas, where he faces competition from the likes of Lallianzuala Chhangte, Liston Colaco and Manvir Singh.

But Irfan is naturally a centre-forward who will be forced to adjust because of Chhetri’s return to the Indian team. That means he won’t be able to properly learn how to excel in a centre-forward role at the international stage and start losing some of his striker’s instincts too.

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2. Edmund Lalrindika

Edmund Lalrindika was touted by some as a potential heir to the number nine position in the Indian national team after Chhetri’s retirement. However, he just couldn’t seem to get the right kind of opportunities to actually excel for the Blue Tigers. In 2024, the 25-year-old made five appearances for India, but all of them were short cameos as a substitute. He’s scored four goals in the ongoing 2024-25 I-League campaign for Inter Kashi, but has been snubbed from Manolo Marquez’s latest squad for the upcoming matches.

Laldinrika will be the biggest loser because of Chhetri’s return to the Indian squad, as the Bengaluru FC man takes up an extra spot among all the forwards that the gaffer can choose. Edmund is inching this peak years as a footballer, but he needs regular game-time at the international stage to be a sharp and clinical forward for India. But as long as Chhetri takes up that attacker spot in the squad, his presence could be a major obstacle for Edmund.

1. David Lalhlansanga

Lalhlansanga’s absence from the India squad for the March fixtures was probably one of the major exclusions from Manolo Marquez. That is because the East Bengal FC forward has been one of the brighter Indian forwards in the ISL this season. Lalhlansanga has scored four goals in 16 appearances for the Torchbearers, out of which three have come as a substitute.

Lalhlansanga is an extremely hard-working figure who works his socks off every time he’s on the pitch and never complains about being benched. However, Lalhlansanga’s debut for India has probably been delayed because of Chhetri’s return. David needs to start playing as a No.9 for India soon for the Blue Tigers to carve him out as a reliable No.9 for them.

However, that keeps being delayed because of Chhetri’s involvement and the more the 40-year-old plays, the chances of Lalhlansanga featuring for India will get lower.

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