A small plea from a big man was all it took to turn heads in Indian football.

The Indian team had thrashed Chinese Taipei 5-0 in the opener in front of the 2569 fans at the Mumbai Football Arena in Andheri.

Sunil Chhetri posted a video on Twitter, asking his country to come out, support and watch the Indian national football team play in the stadium during the Intercontinental Cup in Mumbai.

"All the fans, who came out in Mumbai to support us...thank you. It means the world to us.

But, I'm making this video not for you guys, I'm going to speak, appeal and request all of you, who did not come. To everyone, who is not a football fan...please come and watch us. Two reasons...number one: it is the best game in the world and number two, we play for our country. We will make sure that once you come watch us, you will not go the same person back home.

To all of you, who support big European clubs and support 'your' European club with so much passion and sometimes you feel that 'The level is not same and why waste your time?' Agreed. The level is not the same, not even close but with our desire and determination, we will make sure and try our best to make your time worth.

To all of you, who have lost hope and do not have any hope in Indian football, I request you to come and watch us in the stadiums. It is not fun to criticise or abuse on the internet. Come to the stadium, do it on our face, scream at us, shout at us, abuse us and who knows, one day we might change you guys. You might start cheering for us.

To all of you, who are fans but couldn't come, didn't come, play, work, school...please! Come and watch us in the stadiums. You guys have no idea how important you guys are and how important your support is. So, today I'm requesting all of you 4th, 7th and hopefully the 10th June, we are playing in Mumbai and please come and support us, encourage us, abuse us, criticise us, talk about the game, go back home, have discussions about the game. But, please get involved. This is a very important time and juncture in Indian football and football in India needs you guys."

This is nothing but a small plea from me to you. Take out a little time and give me a listen. pic.twitter.com/fcOA3qPH8i Sunil Chhetri (@chetrisunil11) June 2, 2018

Debates aside on why it was necessary, however valiant the effort - the move marked a change in the attitude for the nation.

59,865 retweets and 1,38,030 likes later, fans filled the stands and India went onto win the tournament in front of record crowds.

Chhetri's message received the most number of retweets, according to a report by Twitter India. The most liked tweet according to the same report was Virat Kohli's tweet "featuring a picture with Anushka Sharma on the occasion of Karvachauth".

The #WhistlePodu and #IPL2018 was also the 9th and 10th (respectively) in most used Hashtags in 2018, along with #AsianGames ranking 10th in most influencial momments in India.

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