Captain Sunil Chhetri gave a hitch-hike to Lallianzuala Chhangte on Sunday, which was almost an expression that India's biggest name in football today has spotted something special in an 18-year-old youngster.
The kid from Mizoram joined the big league in a big way at Thiruvananthapuram, where his brace in India's 4-1 thrashing of Nepal in the SAFF Cup took him past Baichung Bhutia's record as the youngest ever goal-scorer for India.
The win put India into the semi-finals of the tournament but what stood out as the highlight of the match was Chhangte's skills and temperament that helped the hosts come from behind after the Nepalese team took an early 1-0 lead just three minutes into the game.
It was just the second outing for India for the Mizo boy, who made his debut on the Christmas Day last week, when he came on as a substitute in the game against Sri Lanka. That incidentally also made him the youngest player to represent India.
Known as an opportunistic goal-scorer, the young gun has come up the ranks through the under-19 I-League tournament where he scored consistently for his team DSK Shivajians, a club from the city of Pune in Maharashtra. Chhangte has also represented an AIFF team in the 2015 FAM-FRENZ Asia U-18 Champions Trophy and the India Under-19 at the 2016 AFC Championship qualification.
Chhangte's next test will come in the semi-finals of the SAFF Cup, where India will face either Afghanistan or Maldives on New Year’s eve at the Trivandrum International Stadium.
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