SAFF Championship: India vs Sri Lanka - As it happened...

Robin Singh was India's hero in their opening match with two goals in the second half.

New Delhi: In their opening match of the SAFF Championships, India defeated Sri Lanka 2-0 at Trivandrum International Stadium in Kerala. Robin Singh was Blue Tigers' hero of the match with two goals.

25 December 2015

20:19 IST

95' Full Time! After missing out on several opportunities in the first half, India did extremely well in the second half, courtesy two brilliant goals from Robin Singh.

20:16 IST

92' An acrobatic effort from Mandal went in vain as the ball was way far from the goal post.

20:14 IST

90' An added time of 4 minutes has been given to both the teams.

20:12 IST

87' Chhetri had another scoring opportunity, after Chhante produced an excelletn right-footed pass, Chhetri was close to the ball before it was blocked by Perera.

20:12 IST

85' India's possession is still close to 80% in the match.

20:07 IST

83' Indian players are now frustrating the Indian players by passing the ball to one another, having done the job already to a great extent.

20:05 IST

79' The Sri Lankans are now showing a lot more intent, something which has been missing from them so far. But it seems to be coming too late from them.

20:04 IST

77' Lallianzuala Chhangte replaces injured Robin Singh.

20:03 IST

75' Bad news for India. After giving the Blue Tigers a formidable 2-0 lead, Robin Singh has been stretchered off.

19:56 IST

73' GOAL! Robin Singh makes it 2-0 for India!

19:51 IST

68' Jeje missed out on another chance, when his header, in front of the Lankan goal post, went straight to Perera, who jumped and pulled off another spectacular save! This man can do nothing wrong today! Jeje's was shocked with that save and equally disappointed!  

19:49 IST

66' Perera pulled off another save after Pradhan hit a good right-footed shot.

19:49 IST

62' Yellow Card was showen to Asikur Rahuman Mohamed Alawadeen after he brought down Robin Singh, who has been attacking brilliantly in the second half.

19:41 IST

59' Jeje had a chance to increase India's lead to 2-0, but he failed to check himself and gets into an offside position.

19:40 IST

55' Perera deprived India off another goal, with yet another brilliant save diving to his right saving another shot from Singh!Perera deprived India off another goal, with yet another brilliant save diving to his right saving another shot from Singh!

19:35 IST

52' GOAL! He was marked heavily in the first half, but Robin Singh was standing in front of Lanka's goal post, when Chhetri did well to produce a beautiful pass which has given India a 1-0 lead now.

19:33 IST

49' India continue to dominate, Pradhan asked for a corner from the referee, but the ball had gone out of play after hitting his shoes.

19:32 IST

46' India have made one substitution - Pronay Halder has been replaced by Rowllin Borges.

19:31 IST

46' Welcome back. India would be looking to learn from their mistakes from the first half and deliver a much better show in the second.

19:16 IST

45' + 2' It's half-time! Lanka's defence has been brilliant today. Chettri and Contantine would be gutted with their performance so far.

19:12 IST

45' + 1' Narayan Das took a free-kick minutes before half-time after Lyngdoh was brought down, no damage done.

19:10 IST

44' Constantine must be a worried man considering India have wasted quite a few chances today.

19:10 IST

39' Yellow Card for Weerasinghe Sujan.

19:06 IST

39' The scoreline reads 0-0, courtesy Sujan Perera, who has been exceptional so far.

19:03 IST

35' Another chance gone. The ball was with Chhetri, who did well to breach the defence but his shot was finally deflected by Perera.

19:00 IST

33' Another build up by India, not as close as it was earlier in the game, but Jeje's shot went over the bar.

18:55 IST

31' Lankans have looked pretty rusty today. India would be cursing themselves for failing to convert two scoring opportunities.

18:55 IST

27' The stats show India have had 82% possession so far compared to Lanka's 18%.

18:51 IST

24' Another corner for India, Pradhan was initially taking it, was sent back, no damage done to Lanka's defence.

18:48 IST

23' Despite Lankans having heavily marked Robin Singh, the possession still lies mostly with India as the Lankans are busy doing the defending.

18:46 IST

20' India have made most of their attacks from the right-hand side so far.

18:46 IST

18' Pritam Kotal made another move, whoever it was easily fended off by Sri Lankan defenders.

18:40 IST

15' The Lankans took a shot at the Indian goal post, no where close, shows nothing more than their frustration.

18:38 IST

11' India missed out on another chance when Jeje had just the goalkeeper to beat, he failed and Perera makes his second save of the match!

18:35 IST

As expected, India have dominated the proceedings so far while the Lankans have failed to make an impact.

18:32 IST

7' Perera made a good save for the Lankans after Chhetri missed out on a header near the goal post.

18:32 IST

3' India got a free kick early in the match but couldn't capitalise.

18:30 IST

1' India kicked off the proceedings.

18:24 IST

Indian players will be careful against Lankans, who won their previous game in the tournament by a goal in the dying moments against Nepal.

18:24 IST

Young recruits Lallianzuala and Kaushik Sarkar are both substitutes in today's match.

18:23 IST

India's playing XI:

Here is the #India starting XI against #SriLanka. Lets #BackTheBlue. #INDvSRI pic.twitter.com/2h3laCZF74

— Indian Football Team (@AiffMedia) December 25, 2015