Played while my Dad was in operation theatre, reveals Adil Khan

SportsCafe Desk
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India’s savior from their third World Cup qualifier match against Bangladesh on Tuesday, Adil Khan has revealed that he had to play through his father’s heart operation. The veteran centre-half has also stated that he was happy with his performance but not with the team’s eventual outcome.

Adil Khan was informed about his ailing father when he was walking out of the hotel room for the team meeting on Tuesday evening. But the player chose to shut his phone off and get on with the work in hand. 

And although he didn’t start with the sharpest of touches, making numerous uncharacteristic errors in the first half, one of which led to a goal, he settled well in the end stages. He even scored the equalizer for the Blue Tigers by heading in a corner kick from Brandon Fernandes at the near post to level the score in the 88th minute.

"I was a little upset before the match. Scoring such a late goal and earning a point, in front of such passionate crowd, there were so much of emotions involved," said Adil, reported TOI after the match.

"In my entire career, I have not thought about anything when I am playing. Those 90 minutes are most-important for me. Everyone has problems (in their life)," said Adil, who rushed to Goa and discovered that his father was recovering well after a successful surgery.

The defender has returned to the national team after seven long years finding place in Igor Stimac’s tactics and stated that he doesn’t mix his personal life with his profession, which made it easy for him to focus on the game. Adil dedicated the first goal at the international level to his father, wife, and injured defender Sandesh Jhingan.

However, despite his inspired display, India could only churn out a 1-1 draw with Bangladesh garnering only two points from three matches. "I am happy with my performance, although I could have done much better in the first half. I am happy with the team too, but not the result. We could have scored three or four goals, if we had converted the chances that we created," Adil added.

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