Stats: Sunil Chhetri overtakes Wayne Rooney, becomes 4th highest active international scorer

India’s win over Kyrgyzstan on Tuesday was monumental for more than one reason. Following this win, India have achieved their best ever ranking in 21 years.

The win was secured by Chhetri’s brilliant goal in the 69^th minute. In a breathtaking counter attack, the Indian skipper darted through the Kyrgyzstan midfield and found Jeje on the right. Jeje lobbed it over for Chhetri, who found the back of the net with a sublime finish.

By scoring the all-important goal against Kyrgyzstan on Tuesday, he became the fourth highest goal scorer for their nation among active International players. It was his 54^th goal in just 94 matches. In the process, he surpassed England and Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney’s tally of 53 international goals.

Topping the list, of course, is Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo who has just endured one of his most successful seasons. The Real Madrid forward has scored 73 goals for his country in 139 matches, the last of which came against Latvia in the recent World Cup qualifier match.

With the Confederations Cup coming up, the four-time Ballon d’Or winner certainly has the opportunity of increasing his tally and ascertaining his position at the top.

Ronaldo is followed by none other than his arch-rival Lionel Messi. The diminutive Argentine playmaker has featured in 118 matches for his country in which he has scored 58 goals.

Having endured a below-average season by his trophy count, Messi will look to come back strongly next season. Argentina are scheduled to play a string of matches as part of their World Cup qualifying campaign in this year.

Following the two living legends on this list is Clint Demsey of the United States of America. The former Tottenham Hotspur striker, who now plies his trade at MLS club Seattle Sounders FC, has scored 56 goals in 134 matches for his country. Chhetri needs just two more goals to overtake Dempsey and climb to third on this list.

A striking feature, however, is that Chhetri’s goals-per-game ratio is better than Ronaldo, Messi and Dempsey. The following table illustrates the statistics:

Name	Country	Matches	No. of goals	Goals per match
Cristiano Ronaldo	Portugal	139	73	0.52
Lionel Messi	Argentina	118	58	0.49
Clint Dempsey	USA	134	56	0.42
Sunil Chhetri	India	94	54	0.57
Wayne Rooney	England	119	53	0.46
Neymar	Brazil	77	52	0.68
Ali Ashfaq	Maldives	77	52	0.68
Badr Al-Mutawa	Kuwait	159	52	0.33
Edin Dzeko	Bosnia	84	50	0.60
Shinji Okazaki	Japan	108	50	0.46