Their tails up after two successive wins in front of a strong home crowd, India captain Sunil Chhetri has backed his team to beat Hong Kong in the last qualifying game on Tuesday and secure a berth in next year’s AFC Asian Cup. India prevailed over Afghanistan 2-1 in a thrilling match that saw three quick goals being scored at the fag end of the game after both teams denied each other for 86 minutes at the Salt Lake Stadium that had 40,000 spectators in the stands on Saturday evening.

The day coincided with talismanic skipper Chhetri completing 17 years in international football. “It feels great to celebrate my 17th year in international football in this fashion. I felt that maybe we will be splitting the points after Afghanistan equalised. But the boys did what they did. “But at the same time, such milestones don’t mean much to me. I am honoured and privileged to wear the national team jersey for so long,” Chhetri said.