The Indian women's football team put up a dominant show against Bahrain to register a mammoth 5-0 victory at the Hamad Town Stadium in Hamad Town, on Sunday.
Thomas Dennerby's girls sent out a strong message with this astounding victory after the heart-wrenching 0-1 defeat against Tunisia in their previous friendly in the UAE.
Sangita Basfore (13') opened the floodgate before Pyari Xaxa (19', 68'), Indumathi Kathiresan (34'), and Manisha Kalyan (69') added another four goals on their tally.
India did not delay on showing their intent right from the get-go when Anju missed the target from a corner in the 4th minute. Two minutes later, Pyari missed a chance after being fed across by Dalima Chhibber.
They didn't need to wait for too long to break the deadlock as Sangita provided them with an early lead in the 13th minute. Six minutes later, Pyari made amends of her previous miss to double the lead.
Skipper Ashalata also tried her luck from a free-kick, but she couldn't manage to hit the back of the net on the night.
Ranjana Chanu, Dangmei Grace, and Pyari kept the Bahrain defence on their toes throughout, and finally, Indumathi joined the party after the half-hour mark.
India dominated in every department to hold on to a 3-0 lead at the end of the first half.
India's Swedish coach introduced Soumya Guguloth at the break, withdrawing Grace. Ashalata once again came very close to score from a curling free-kick, but only saw her effort going off-target on the 58th minute. Six minutes later, Pyari completed her brace from Sanju's header.
Within a few seconds, Manisha fired in the fifth goal of the night, which put the match well beyond the hosts.
Pyari got her marching orders 17 minutes from the end of the regulation whistle, but Bahrain could not utilise the numerical advantage and the scoreline remained unchanged till the end.
The Indian women's Team will now proceed to play Chinese Taipei in their next friendly match on Wednesday.
( With inputs from ANI )
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