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) |