Sunil Chhetri not hanging up his boots after India's AFC Asian Cup 2019 exit Photo Credit: AP Sunil Chhetri not hanging up his boots after India's AFC Asian Cup 2019 exit

The Indian football team's unexpected early exit from the AFC Asian Cup didn't just trigger the departure of coach Stephen Constantine but also the retirement of veteran Anas Edathodika. The whole environment, however, hasn't had any impact on skipper Sunil Chhetri who assured that he isn't looking to hang up his boots anytime soon.

“No reason to (retire). One day there will be a No. 10 who will be better than me. Till then, I think I can contribute,” confirmed Chhetri in an interview with the Hindustan Times after India suffered a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Bahrain on Monday, crashing out of the Asian Cup 2019 campaign.

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Chhetri confirmed that he couldn't sleep after the defeat as his brain was occupied in processing the unexpected defeat against Bahrain. Admitting that he was expecting the team to go through, the shock loss isn't something that he has managed to come to terms with so far.

“And I usually sleep a lot. After the win against Thailand, I was fairly confident we would qualify, so to absorb this is particularly difficult. Gutted,” Chhetri sighed. “Mentally, we killed it ourselves. Physically, we were not tired. Someone like Hali (Halicharan Narzary) could have run 180 minutes more. We just didn’t perform. As a senior player, I should have done something, maybe yelled at the boys to not just lump the ball because at this level you simply can’t do that.”

India struggled to impose themselves on the 113-ranked opponents. A defensive-minded show in the first half saw little to no change in the second as the players allowed the opposing players take charge of the game, with the approach paying off in the dying minutes of the game.

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When asked about the refusal to change the tactics of the game in the second half, Chhetri said: “In such situations, a kind of mentality sets in, one that is difficult to rid yourself of on the pitch. No one told us to play defensively. We should have kept the ball, not just pumped it ahead without direction. Because even though we defended really well, at this level you will be punished for doing that. We just kept telling ourselves ‘let’s hold on for some more time’,”.

About the coach Constantine's exit, Chhetri revealed that the gaffer got emotional as he revealed players the decision to quit. “We didn’t speak much about the game,” the 35-year-old said who plans to stay in UAE for a few days before returning home for the start of the second half of the ISL 2018-19 season.