Report: India edge Tajikistan to begin Khalid Jamil era with a win
The Blue Tigers beat hosts Tajikistan to secure a vital win in their CAFA Nations Cup 2025 opening game.
The Match Report is also available in Bangla and Malayalam
The Indian national football team edged out hosts Tajikistan by a 2-1 scoreline in their opening fixture of the CAFA Nations Cup 2025 at the Central Stadium in Hisor, Tajikistan, on Friday.
Anwar Ali and Sandesh Jhingan were on the scoresheet as the Blue Tigers kicked off the Khalid Jamil era with a crucial victory.
A DEBUT TO REMEMBER IN THE #CAFANationsCup2025 🤩🇮🇳
— Indian Football Team (@IndianFootball) August 29, 2025
Khalid Jamil's #BlueTigers defeat hosts Tajikistan in the Group 🅱️ opener 👊#TJKIND #IndianFootball ⚽ pic.twitter.com/huCiy3Hw3i
India started the game on the front foot, creating a few attacking moves within the opening phase. They also found the opener in the fifth minute on the clock, thanks to Anwar’s towering header, which saw the Blue Tigers take an early lead.
Jamil’s men doubled their lead within the next seven minutes through Jhingan. Rahul Bheke’s headed attempt from an Anwar Ali cross was initially saved by the opposition keeper, but it fell to the FC Goa defender, and he pounced on the rebound to score the second.
Tajikistan were quick to find the back of the net with quick interchange of play. The hosts pulled one goal back in the 23rd minute courtesy of Shahrom Samiev’s strike.
Panshanbe combined well with Boboev to set up Samiev in the box, and the Tajikistan forward made no mistake to beat Jhingan and then Gurpreet inside the box to pull one back for Tajikistan.
The hosts continued to create goal-scoring moves in the final phase of the opening half, but India stood strong to absorb the pressure and went to halftime with a slender 2-1 lead.
Tajikistan started afresh in the second half with Safarov, Dzhuraboev, and Jalilov leading the charge. However, a resilient defense line led by Anwar and Jhingan at the backline and Gurpreet Singh Sandhu under the post thwarted those attempts.
Tajikistan got a crucial chance to level the score as they were awarded a penalty. Soirov stepped up to take the spot kick, but Gurpreet delivered a brilliant save in the 73rd minute to deny his attempt.
Both teams kept pushing in the second half, creating a couple of clear-cut chances, but the scoreline remained unchanged.
With that, the match ended in favour of the Blue Tigers as India made a winning start to Jamil’s tenure.
India will next take on mighty Iran in their next match on September 1 at 5:30 PM IST.
