Finally, Gurpreet makes India debut, Jhingan also proves his worth

Gurpreet Singh Sandhu’s seemingly neverending wait is finally over. After spending countless hours, covering thousands of miles on the flight and enduring sleepless nights over a possible chance to wear India colours, the Mohali goalkeeper finally realised his much-awaited dream.On Tuesday evening, before the kick-off of the 2018 Fifa World Cup qualifiers match between India and Iran at Bangalore, head Indian coach Stephen Constantine gave Gurpreet the happiest news of his life.As it turned out, when the Indian team stepped inside the Sree Kanteerava Stadium, the fans were expecting to see the familiar faces in the playing XI.However, there was a big surprise in store for them. In the last line of defense, instead of Subrata Pal, a much taller and younger keeper stepped up to take charge of the duty. Gurpreet’s day of reckoning had finally come as the custodian became the 498th player to make his debut for India.