PANAJI: When Adil Khan was walking out of his hotel room for the team meeting on Tuesday evening, his phone rang quite unexpectedly. On match days, the India defender doesn’t like to be disturbed, but his family had to pass on this news to him.

Adil's father, Badrudin Khan, was in hospital with two heart blockages and needed surgery. The surgery, his family told him, would happen later that evening, when the defender would lineup for India against Bangladesh in a World Cup 2022 qualifier at the

in Kolkata.

The Sesa FA graduate took a deep breath, sensed what was happening and put his cell-phone off. He kept everything to himself; when he was warming up, his father was being wheeled into the operation theatre. He still took the field as if nothing had happened.

At first, he was found wanting. There was something wrong with his game; that miss which almost resulted in a goal early in the game was so uncharacteristic, but when the referee blew the final whistle, Adil had covered himself in glory.

A one-all draw against Bangladesh isn’t the best result for India, but it was Adil who made a crucial overhead clearance near the goalline to keep the Blue Tigers in the game and then came up with a brilliant header to save the day. With time ticking away, the defender met a corner-kick from Brandon Fernandes at the near post to level the score in the 88th minute.

"I was a little upset before the match. Scoring such a late goal and earning a point, in front of such passionate crowd, there were so much of emotions involved," Adil told TOI after the match.

The India defender who has returned to the national team after seven years said he doesn’t mix his personal life with his profession, so it was easy to just focus on the game.

"In my entire career, I have not thought about anything when I am playing. Those 90 minutes are most-important for me. Everyone has problems (in their life)," said Adil, who rushed to Goa and discovered that his father was recovering well after a successful surgery.

Dedicating the goal, his first at the international level, to his father, wife and injured defender Sandesh Jhingan, Adil said he was happy with the performance but not the result.

"I am happy with my performance, although I could have done much better in the first half. I am happy with the team too, but not the result. We could have scored three or four goals, if we had converted the chances that we created."