5 best performers for the Indian National Football Team in 2017

#1 Sunil Chhetri

2017 has been a fine year for Captain Fantastic

No Indian player deserves to be on this list more than Captain Fantastic Sunil Chhetri. From being in the Forbes India top 100 personalities of the year to breaking goalscoring records for fun, Chhetri has had a year to savour. The team does not need to look anywhere else for inspiration when a leader like Chhetri performs the way he has in 2017.

Chhetri scored three goals for India in the calendar year - all of them coming in the Asian Cup qualifiers. And with those three goals, he became the joint-third highest active goal scorer in international football (56 goals, equal to USA's Clint Dempsey). He went past Wayne Rooney in 2017 with only Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi ahead of him at the moment.

India needed a big performance in their first qualifier against Kyrgyzstan and it came in the form of a 1-0 win in Bengaluru, courtesy a Sunil Chhetri winner right at the death. The captain got on the scoresheet against Macau and also scored a decisive penalty in a 2-2 draw with Myanmar. All in all, this has been a brilliant year for the Indian captain who must be itching to lead his country in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup.