SportsFootball
Suhail Bhat scores twice as India hold off late Pakistan fightback to win SAFF opener 3-2
The defending champions led 3-0 inside 31 minutes in Dhaka on Thursday, then conceded twice in stoppage time before closing out the win that puts them top of Group B.
Key points
- India beat Pakistan 3-2 in their SAFF Championship opener in Dhaka on Thursday.
- Suhail Ahmad Bhat scored twice in six minutes and Manglenthang Kipgen added a third.
- India play the Maldives on November 11 in their last group match.
India opened the defence of their SAFF Championship title with a 3-2 win over Pakistan at the National Stadium in Dhaka on Thursday, November 5, 2026, though a fast start nearly came undone in a frantic stoppage time.
Suhail Ahmad Bhat did the damage early. After having one effort ruled out for offside, he tapped in from close range in the 13th minute and then ran onto Abhishek Suryavanshi’s line-breaking pass to make it 2-0 in the 19th. Manglenthang Kipgen added a third in the 31st minute after Noufal PN slipped him in behind the defence.
Pakistan had a chance to get back into it before the break when Suryavanshi fouled Hayyaan Khattak in the box, but Shayak Dost blazed the penalty over the bar.
A nervy finish
India controlled midfield and the ball for most of the first half, but their intensity dropped after the restart. Adison Singh was denied one on one by goalkeeper Yousuf Butt, and the fourth goal never came.
Pakistan then struck twice in stoppage time. Najeeb Ullah headed in Junaid Shah’s cross in the first added minute, and Alamgir Ghazi finished acrobatically from McKeal Abdullah’s cross three minutes later. India held on for the last moments.
“We were better in the second, but we scored too late,” Ghazi said afterwards. He said the team had not trained properly in Dhaka: “Our luggage was missing, that’s why we didn’t train.”
What comes next
The win puts Naushad Moosa’s side top of Group B with three points. Several of India’s first-choice players are still busy in the ISL and are due to join the squad later in the tournament.
India’s last group match is against the Maldives at the same stadium on November 11, at 3 pm IST. The top two teams in each group reach the semi-finals, and Ghazi said Pakistan “must win the second game”, against the Maldives, to stay in the hunt.