Sunil Chhetri's crowning conquest? Tackling the quandary of being 'Sunil Chhetri' wearing a smile

Seated against an abyssal black backdrop, in a conspicuous off-white tee shirt, Sunil Chhetri's stout figure was visibly prominent, an uncanny resemblance to his chapter in Indian football - a silver lining amid the ominous clouds of despair.

After navigating through a heart-aching eight-minute monologue, via a video on his social media channels on Thursday, May 16, announcing his retirement from Indian football, the 39-year-old's head dropped and eyes meandered into nothingness.

Hands clenching his hips, Chhetri sighed and in a muffled voice uttered, "And it's a wrap!" Of his international career? Yes. Wrap of his footballing days? Not quite. Of the enigma that is Sunil Chhetri? Certainly not.

With the poignance of a poet, filmmaker Asif Kapadia, in his 2019 documentary 'Diego Maradona', quite masterfully imposed the idea of Diego and Maradona being two fragmented personas operating in tandem to craft the mythical stature of El Pibe de Oro. A 19-year-old Sunil, warming the benches at Punjab-based club JCT Mills back in 2005, would reciprocate with the analogy if he ever came across the icon the world would eventually transform him into.

He wasn't a prodigal son destined for greatness, but his legacy was written in those minute pockets that will eventually remain as mere footnotes of a glorious chapter.

Even as Sukhwinder Singh, one of the more revered coaches then, took the youngster under his wings at JCT, Chhetri's timid frame and frail physicality meant he was bullied off the ball often with ease. Undeterred in his passion for the sport, he quickly realized his shortcomings and put his mind to transforming his physique. To this day, he hasn't stopped.

The raging folklore would make one believe, the four-time SAFF Championship winner was born to be a victor. But Chhetri molded himself into one or rather elected it as the only pathway to elevate himself and the country from footballing mediocrity.

Not in blacks and whites, Sunil Chhetri soared on the edge of the line

Sunil Chhetri is the third-highest active goalscorer in men's international football.

Let's rewind a little. The calendar stops on June 2, 2018. A day after the Blue Tigers hammered Chinese Taipei 5-0 in the Intercontinental Cup. The occasion, however, was marred in light of the paltry turnout at the Mumbai stadium.

Do you ever see your heroes bow? Do you see your heroes plead? Do you ever see their naked vulnerabilities laid out in front of you? Well, you don't. You shouldn't. Let alone for the man who had already etched his name in the history books to shred away the pride of the divine semblance he had assumed.

But Chhetri, in a video on his social media handles, with folded hands and diligence bleeding out of his eyes appealed to millions of Indians to fill the stands for the forthcoming national team matches, even if to only hurl abuses at them. For a moment, he was human. And Mumbai obliged.

When detractors lashed out at him for overstaying his welcome in the national team, he stayed a little longer. And then a little longer still. Why? Because he could; because he remained the same hungry 16-year-old who had fallen in love with the leather orb.

When he was confined to a more limited role off the bench at Bengaluru FC, despite his enviable international record, Chhetri complied without a public tantrum. He was a servant to the jersey he donned, not to the burdensome moniker on his back.

With the aspirations of his club on the line, when he stabbed home that quick freekick against Kerala Blasters in the knockout match of the ISL 2022-23 season, which left the football fraternity polarized, Sunil, stamping his arrogance, unambiguously conveyed he wasn't perfect. But even after his record-breaking 94 international goals, seven AIFF Player of the Year awards, the Arjuna Award, the Padma Shri, and a Khel Ratna award later he was still ravenous to taste victory.

Criticisms against him arose from minds that were fixated on the whites and the blacks of his odyssey. But he operated - quite like he did on the pitch - on the edge of the line. Now that he hurls down the curtain on his illustrious career, there's a gaping void left behind that even his harshest naysayers would acknowledge.

But for any braveheart who dares to sink his toes into the gigantic boots emptied by the eternal talisman, here's a small tip: Don't try to be Sunil Chhetri. Even the timid military brat from Secunderabad pinnacled in moments he relinquished the enigma of Sunil Chhetri.