India vs Afghanistan Football: How Indian Defence Would Line-Up Without Sandesh Jhingan?

Indian football team returns to action for the first time since their AFC Asian Cup debacle in Qatar back in January. Igor Stimac and his team are under the scanner as they take on Afghanistan in the first of the two-legged FIFA World Cup Qualifiers in Abha.

The Blue Tigers gear up for the challenge without their irreplaceable centre-back Sandesh Jhingan and looking at the options available to the Croatian coach, it may be a bit tricky selection for the starting 11.

Before we progress further, let’s take a look at the Indian defenders shortlisted for the two matches: Akash Mishra, Mehtab Singh, Rahul Bheke, Nikhil Poojary, Subhasish Bose, Anwar Ali, Amey Ranawade, and Jay Gupta.

Anwar Ali and Rahul Bheke as centre-back pair

With Jhingan out, all eyes are on Anwar Ali’s return to the Indian team after an injury lay-off since the SAFF Championships last year. The ball-playing Mohun Bagan centre-back was dearly missed during the Asian Cup in Qatar. Known for his long and diagonal passes, Anwar Ali is likely to pair up with Rahul Bheke.

Stimac has been fond of the full-back in a centre-back role, as was the case during the AFC Asian Cup and before. The 33-year-old defender, who plays for Mumbai City FC as a right-back, has often partnered with Jhingan in the recent past and is likely to keep his role during the two-legged ties against Afghanistan.

As far as his stats are concerned, Bheke has 82% passing accuracy with 35 passes per game, making him a valuable ball-playing centre-back. Defense-wise, Bheke won 139 tackles, and 497 duels to date. He has created 22 goal-scoring chances with seven goals and five assists.

Option 2: Mehtab Singh with Bheke or Anwar

Bheke’s clubmate Mehtab Singh has been drafted ahead of East Bengal’s Lalchunnunga in the Indian squad after the centre-back consistently kept his spot in the Petr Kratky’s line-up while MCFC fought it out for the ISL shield.

In total, Mehtab has made 17 appearances and played 1,338 minutes. Throughout their 19 games, he has started 16 of them and has just once come on as a replacement. Mehtab has ample potential to defend opponents by using his physique and height prominently but coach Stimac has pointed out in the past that he is still a work-in-progress.

During the AFC Champions League 2023-2024 season Mehtab’s defensive might was tested as his defense allowed 8 goals while maintaining 0 clean sheets in 4 games.

Overall in 63 appearances at club level, Mehtab has made 70 interceptions, 30 tackles won, 171 duels won, 103 aerial duels won, and 39 blocks. At the offensive front, Mehtab holds 84% passing accuracy while making 45 passes per game. He has 3 goals to his name, along with 1 assist.

Full backs: Spoilt for choices

Coach Igor Stimac is spoilt for choices as far as fullbacks are concerned. There are as many as three left-backs for the coach to choose from with Jay Gupta earning maiden call-up and will fight it out with Akash Mishra and Subhasish Bose, who are often shuffled as per their different set of expertise.

As far as right-back position is concerned, first-choice Nikhil Poojary continues to keep his spot in the line-up while Amey Ranawade has been handed his first call-up in place of experienced but misfiring Pritam Kotal.