The much-anticipated clash between India and the People’s Republic of China ended in a 0-0 draw at the Suzhou Olympic Sports Centre Stadium in Suzhou City on Saturday.

• Bengaluru FC custodian Gurpreet Singh Sandhu put up a valiant performance, producing a string of fine stops.
• Pritam Kotal and Farukh Choudhary had golden chances to score for India, but were unable to make it count.
• India’s performance on the night will serve as a major confidence boost for Stephen Constantine’s men ahead of the AFC Asian Cup 2019.

The hosts started the match on the front foot, dominating proceedings in the first 10 minutes. However, India slowly grew into the game and soon created one of the best chances of the first half. After some fine build-up play by the Indians, the ball fell to Kotal, who made an overlapping run down the right flank. His resulting shot seemed destined for the bottom corner, but Yan Junling produced an excellent save to deny the goal-bound shot.

India continued to move forward and created their next big opportunity a few minutes later. A dangerous lofted ball from Anirudh Thapa found Chhetri free in space inside the penalty box. However, the 34-year-old was unable to keep his shot on target as it sailed over the bar.

China were eager to get themselves back on track and fashioned their best chance just past the halfway mark of the first period. The Dragons cut through the Indian defence with Gao Lin racing through on goal, but his attempted finish was brilliantly saved by Gurpreet in goal. That proved to be the last notable chance of the half as neither side were able to break the deadlock.

A few minutes into the second half, China came within a few inches of opening the scoring when Lin hit the crossbar from inside the penalty box. However, the Blue Tigers were not willing to sit back and almost took the lead when Udanta Singh was released through on goal. Nevertheless, his finish lacked conviction and failed to trouble Junling.

As the match entered its last half hour, Marcello Lippi’s men went on the front foot again and should have put themselves in the lead. Some neat link-up play from the attackers resulted in Wu Lei smashing the underside of the crossbar from a few yards out. The hosts continued their search for the maiden goal, but Singh remained firm in goal to deny anything that they posed at him.

The Bengaluru FC shot-stopper produced two world-class saves to make sure that the score remained level. Constantine’s men could have dramatically sealed the tie in added time when Choudhary crept in behind China’s defence, but his resulting finish was tame, with Junling saving comfortably. Despite squandering a few good chances, the Blue Tigers will take heart from a valiant performance on their first night in China.