India, March 19 -- Indian football icon Sunil Chhetri returned as captain in the international friendly against Maldives on Wednesday at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Shillong as the legend was named in the starting XI. The 40-year-old is all set to play his first game in nine months, having recently come out of retirement in an unexpected reversal of his decision.

On March 8, Chhetri reversed his retirement decision taken last year with India, who missed out on the qualification for the 2026 World Cup, now targeting the Asian Cup in 2027. The fourth-highest men's international goalscorer of all time made his last appearance in June 2024 in a World Cup qualifier against Kuwait, in front of nearly 59,000 fans in Kolkata.

Despite his in...