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When was the last time Sunil Chhetri wasn't the Indian top scorer in an international tournament?

When was the last time Sunil Chhetri wasn't the Indian top scorer in an international tournament?

2017 Tri-Nation Series and 2018 SAFF Championship were the only time Sunil Chhetri did not play in an international tournament in the last decade...

Sunil Chhetri reached yet another milestone in the final of SAFF Championship 2021 as he equalled Lionel Messi's tally of 80 international goals and became the joint second-highest active international goalscorer in the world behind Cristiano Ronaldo.

After scoring a brace against Maldives which helped the Blue Tigers secure a final berth, Chhetri once again was on target for India as they clinched their record eighth SAFF Championship title, beating Nepal 3-0 in the final. He bagged the Golden Boot award as well, scoring five goals in five matches in the tournament and was also given the Most Valuable Player award. 

This was the 11th time in the last 12 international competitions that Chhetri was the highest-scoring Indian player. The only tournament he did not score was at the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup where India were ousted from the group stage without scoring a single goal.

At the 2013 SAFF Championship, Chhetri, Syed Rahim Nabi and Arnab Mondal scored a goal each. He has won the Golden Boot award in six international competitions, out of which two were joint awards (2012 Nehru Cup and 2019 Intercontinental Cup).

In the last 11 years, Chhetri has missed playing only two international tournaments. In 2017, the skipper could not feature in the Tri-Nation Series as he had his club commitments to fulfil and in the 2018 SAFF Championship, the U23 India team was sent.

Here, we take a look at every single tournament India took part in and who were their highest scorers.

Year Tournament India's result Top Indian scorer
2011 AFC Asian Cup Group stage exit Sunil Chhetri (2)
2011 SAFF Championship Champion Sunil Chhetri (7)
2012 AFC Challenge Cup Group stage exit -
2012 Nehru Cup Champion Sunil Chhetri (4)
2013 SAFF Championship  Runners-up Sunil Chhetri (1), Syed Rahim Nabi (1), Arnab Mondal (1)
2015 SAFF Championship Champion Sunil Chhetri (3), Jeje Lalpekhlua (3)
2017 Tri-Nation Series Champion Balwant Singh (1), Jackichand Singh (1), Robin Singh (1)
2018 Intercontinental Cup Champion Sunil Chhetri (8)
2018 SAFF Championship Champion Manvir Singh (3)
2019 AFC Asian Cup Group stage exit Sunil Chhetri (2)
2019 King's Cup Third Sunil Chhetri (1), Anirudh Thapa (1)
2019 Intercontinental Cup Fifth Sunil Chhetri (3)
2021 SAFF Championship Champion Sunil Chhetri (5)
(Originally posted by Ritabrata Banerjee)
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