Bahrain 2-1 India: Rahul Bheke's maiden international goal not enough to rescue Blue Tigers against the hosts  

India suffered a humbling 2-1 defeat in an international friendly against host nation Bahrain on Wednesday. After Mohammed Al-Hardan put Bahrain ahead in the first half, the Blue Tigers bounced back in the 59th minute through Rahul Bheke to restore parity. However, the home team sealed the tie with a late winner from Mahdi Al-Humaidan in the 88th minute.

This was India's first international match since winning the 2021 SAFF Championship in the Maldives in October last year. The two friendlies in Bahrain against the host nation and Belarus on March 26 are part of the team’s preparations for the final round of the AFC Asian Cup China 2023 Qualifiers, which will be held in Kolkata from June 8.

For the match, head coach Igor Stimac gave five players the opportunity to make their international debut. VP Suhair and Danish Farooq were in the starting line-up, while Naorem Roshan Singh, Aniket Jadhav and Anwar Ali came on as substitutes.

Right from the start, Bahrain were on the front foot and earned a penalty after center-back Sandesh Jhingan handled the ball inside the box. However, India's numero uno Gurpreet Singh Sandhu dived to his left to palm off Mahdi Humaidan’s penalty and keep the scoreline at 0-0.

Minutes later, Helio Sousa's team had another scoring opportunity when Mohamad's shot from inside the box crashed into the bar. Although the ball fell kindly for Mahdi, he squandered the opportunity. But in the 38th minute, Bahrain finally broke the deadlock through Al-Hardan.

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Mahdi Al-Humaidan scores late winner for Bahrain to sink Indian hearts

Coming out after the break, Stimac brought in debutant Roshan Singh in place of Liston Colaco. In the 56th minute, the Croatian gaffer brought in Anirudh Thapa, who replaced VP Suhair.

Minutes later, India won a corner and played it short to Roshan, who darted in a deadly cross, which was met by a glancing header from Bheke for his maiden goal in international football. With the scores leveled, Bahrain upped the ante and looked likelier to score.

In the 65th minute, Mahdi Al-Humaidan missed a glorious opportunity to put Bahrain ahead when he missed an absolute sitter from a few yards out. But as the clock ran down, Mahdi had one final opportunity to salvage his earlier miss. The midfielder found himself in space and struck a cross from the right into the back of the net. The late winner sank Indian hearts yet again.

The Blue Tigers next play Belarus in another international friendly on March 26.