Guwahati, March 26 -- India's quest for a place in the third round of the FIFA World Cup 2026 and AFC Asian Cup 2027 Preliminary Joint Qualifiers suffered a serious jolt when they went down to Afghanistan 1-2 on Tuesday. The winners trailed 0-1 at halftime.

Skipper Sunil Chhetri, playing his 150th International, kept his date with history by giving the Blue Tigers the lead off a penalty kick in the 38th minute in front of jam-packed stands at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati. The joy, however, was turned into complete misery when Rahmat Akbari's shot deflected off a defender to find its way past Gurpreet Singh Sandhu in the 70th minute for the equaliser, and then Sharif Mukhammad dealt the deathly blow by converting a penal...