India muffed the chances galore and was held to a goalless draw by Afghanistan in its Group A match of the FIFA World Cup AFC qualifiers at the Damac Club Stadium in Abha, Saudi Arabia.

India, 117th in the FIFA Rankings, moved up to the second place in Group A with four points from three matches.

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World No. 158 Afghanistan are bottom of the four-team group with one point.

India has also now failed to score in its last five outings. Manvir Singh’s winner vs Kuwait on November 16, 2023 is the last time the team managed an international goal.

A tight midfield battle ensued in the opening exchanges. While Afghanistan looked to use their pace and physicality to assert dominance, India were intent on playing a passing game.

Vikram Partap Singh, who had earned his senior national team debut in January, made the starting XI for the first time in his career and consistently troubled the rival defence.

The forward kept moving in between the centre and the wing, often switching with Manvir Singh, which caused much confusion in the opponent ranks.

As the match wore on, the Indian midfield slowly began to assert control. Lallianzuala Chhangte, prancing down the left, found an unmarked Manvir with a low cross. The latter, who had drifted inside from the right flank, sent his shot wide.

Despite India’s control over the game, Afghanistan kept creating chances of their own, especially on the counter. Mosawer Ahadi was released down the right flank before cutting in and unleashing a left-footed curler that India custodian Gurpreet Singh Sandhu caught with both hands.

Manvir had more than one opportunity to score in the first-half itself, first from a corner by Chhangte and then from a cross whipped in by fullback Nikhil Poojary. However, both went begging as the first-half came to a close.

Vikram Pratap, too, missed a few in the second-half.

Twice, he was played in behind the Afghanistan defence. While on the first occasion, the ball was just a yard too far, the 22-year-old managed to wriggle past his marker in the second opportunity, only to make the angle too narrow for himself to take a crack at goal.

Vikram’s last opportunity came just minutes ahead of the hour mark when he managed to get into the six-yard box, unmarked, and connected a header onto a cross by Akash Mishra. The effort went inches wide.

Vikram’s night, however, soon came to an end. A mistimed tackle earned him a booking, and head coach Igor Stimac replaced him with Brandon Fernandes.

Afghanistan kept making the counter-attacks and had their best scoring opportunity of the game in the 62nd minute when Rahmat Akbari’s low cross found Omid Popalzay in the box but Rahul Bheke intervened just in time to shrug the Afghanistan midfielder off the ball.

Stimac made a host of changes with a quarter of an hour left on the clock, bringing on Liston Colaco, Mahesh Deepak Tangri. Colaco from the right, frequently sent in crosses but the Afghanistan defence managed to deal with them.

Subhasish Bose, who had earlier replaced Mishra, also managed to get a free header inside the rival box, as he nodded a Colaco corner inches wide of the target.

As the match went into injury time, Colaco created one last opportunity, sprinting down the right flank. His low cross missed captain Sunil Chhetri but landed at Mahesh’s feet, who tried to create space for a shot but lost possession.

The Indian men’s football team will again play Afghanistan in its next match of the qualifiers on March 26.