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| I'm 'fossilized', there may not be exact replacement but national team has worthy successors: Chhetri | | |
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NEW DELHI, May 27: Just two years short of completing two decades of an illustrious international career, India captain Sunil Chhetri on Saturday said that he is "fossilized" and the country may not find his exact replacement but insisted that the national team has "worthy" successors.
The 38-year-old Chhetri made his international debut in 2005 and since then he has broken several records, including becoming the most capped India player (133 matches) and scoring most international goals (85) for the country -- third among active footballers in the world.
"I am fossilized. I have played for a long time, that is why you may not be able to find the exact replacement (of me) but there are many players (in the team) who will do well, if not better than me," Chhetri said when asked if the country has got his replacement.
-He took names of five players -- Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Sandesh Jhingan, Amrinder Singh, Rahul and Rowlin Borges -- as potential leaders after him.
"(They are) different type of leaders, all of them doing well, are potentially captains of their clubs.
"You may not find probably the similarity between the kind of person or player I am to them, but they are definitely worthy leaders. All the five names can take charge." Asked how he kept himself fit for so long, Chhetri said, "Keeping physically fit is the easiest part. Telling your mind that you have to gear up and do it everyday is the difficult one -- not to eat when you don't have to eat, train hard, sleep early, drink a lot of water." The national team is also expected to play in the Kings Cup in Thailand and Merdeka Cup in Malaysia later in the year. All these will give the team a good number of matches ahead of the all-important Asian Cup in Doha in January 2024.
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