Great Expectations

India’s football captain Sunil Chhetri is determined to take the sport to a different level, slowly, steadily and persistently. How will he make a difference?

- Sneha Bhura

He is the most-capped Indian football player and also the highest goal scorer in the country and, in fact, is just five goals behind Lionel Messi on the international stage. Some say he is easily the best Indian football player in the last 15 years. With him around, the FIFA world ranking of India has consistently improved and is at an all-time best of 97. Ensconced in a spacious and handsomely fitted penthouse like hotel suite not far from the Delhi airport, Chhetri does not betray travel fatigue this morning and is ready to field questions without any hurry. He looks sharp and straight, his face perpetually watchful. We are seated next to a light-filled kitchen-diner in the living room and the conversation inevitably veers to breakfast. Like a clean swerve, almost a quick manoeuvre with a ball, Chhetri tackles the niggling curiosity of his followers. “Oatmeal, eggs, fruit, nuts, coffee and coconut water; this is what I have been eating for breakfast the last 15 years,” says Chhetri. “So, when people ask me what is so different that I do, I say it is the normal everyday thing that is the most challenging. I think the most difficult part of a sportsperson’s career is that there are so many things that are so monotonous, but are important. You have to keep doing them every day,” he says. Chhetri is highly apologetic of cheat days, “taking it easy” or replacing oatmeal with wheat flakes or muesli.

Chhetri married his long-time Bengali girlfriend Sonam Bhattacharya last December and has deftly woven in his downtime with family after dinner, somewhere between 8pm and 10pm. This schedule is something he will unflinchingly follow for the next eight years at least, given his penchant for an unchanging time table. In Chhetri’s world, there are no excuses or half-hearted measures.