India wants to win the do-or-die match against Kuwait in the 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers to give captain Sunil Chhetri a fitting send-off.
IND vs KUW Match Details
Date: Thursday, 6 May 2024
Time: 19:30 (IST)
Venue: Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata
IND vs KUW Match Preview
Chhetri's 94th goal, from the spot, in his 150th appearance for India in March did not help as Afghanistan’s 2-1 comeback win put his side in a difficult place in the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers. The Blue Tigers need to win to keep their hopes of progressing into the third round of qualifying, for the first time in history, alive by breaking their winless streak and giving their retiring captain a memory to cherish. In the roaring Salt Lake that is expected to be full house, India will face bottom-placed Kuwait whom they carry a three-game winning streak including winning the reverse fixture of this qualifier.Head coach Igor Stimac is under immense pressure to deliver with his job at stake if his team fail to win in Kolkata with Asian Champions Qatar to face in the final game of Round 2. India are placed second in the table with four points in total, level on points with Afghanistan but ahead on goal difference, so not be interested in giving any chance to the Middle Eastern side who are a point behind.
Kuwait will want to seize the opportunity to spoil Sunil Chhetri’s retirement game and stun the home support they failed to do on their ground albeit with overwhelming support for the opposition in that game. Rui Bento’s team will be looking at India’s poor record in the last few games where they failed to win or score in the Asian Cup and failed to beat lower-ranked Afghanistan over two matches in the World Cup Qualifiers. However, Kuwait lost to the Blue Tigers in the 2023 SAFF Championship and the opening match of this qualifying round. They registered the same number of wins in the same period with one. So, it is a must-win match for the visitors as well. Seizing the second spot against India with three points will give them a significant boost as they face Afghanistan in their final qualifying match as the latter face group winners Qatar before that.
IND vs KUW Recent Form (all competitions)
IND: LDLLL
KUW: LLLWL
IND vs KUW Recent Form (FIFA World Cup Qualifiers)
IND: LDLW
KUW: LLWL
IND vs KUW Predicted Lineups
India
Gurpreet Singh; Nikhil Poojary, Rahul Bheke, Anwar Ali, Subhasish Bose; Jeakson Singh, Anirudh Thapa; Manvir Singh, Brandon Fernandes, Lallianzuala Chhangte; Sunil Chhetri
Kuwait
Sulaiman Abdulghafour; Rashed Al-Dosary, Khalid El Ebrahim, Hassan Al-Enezi, Salman Bormeya; Eid Al-Rasheedi; Hamad Al-Harbi, Faisal Zayed, Azbi Shehab, Mohammad Daham; Al Salman
IND vs KUW Head-to-head (all competitions)
Played - 5
IND won - 3
Drawn - 1
KUW won - 2
IND vs KUW Dream11 Match Prediction
India should come out on top at home and return to winning ways after five matches with a 2-1 win against Kuwait.
IND vs KUW Dream11 Top picks
Captain Pick: Sunil Chhetri
Vice-captain Pick: Lallianzuala Chhangte
IND vs KUW Dream11 Team Suggestion
GK: Gurpreet (Cr - 8)
DEF: Al-Dosary (Cr - 8.5), Bheke (Cr - 8.5), Bose (Cr - 8.5)
MID: Chhangte (Cr - 9), Daham (Cr - 9), Brandon (Cr - 8.5), Shehab (8)
FW: Manvir (Cr - 8.5), Chhetri (Cr - 9), Al Salman (Cr - 8.5)
Vice-captain: Lallianzuala Chhangte
Captain: Sunil Chhetri
