Dushanbe (Tajikistan): Seiminlen Doungel scored in stoppage time to help India hold Afghanistan 1-1 and rescue a point in their Group E World Cup qualifier here on Thursday.
- The result meant that India, coached by Croatian Igor Stimac, remained winless in their qualifying campaign after four matches with three draws and one defeat. India now have three points from four matches -- this being their third draw in a row.
- In their previous encounter at home to Bangladesh, it was Adil Khan who scored the equaliser in front of a packed house in Kolkata to save the team the blushes after they were behind against their much lower-ranked rivals.
India failed to create clear-cut chances against a resilient Afghan backline as the talismanic Sunil Chhetri missed an open chance in the second half to further add to their woes.
Afghanistan scored through Zelfagar Nazary at the stroke of halftime before substitute Doungel headed in his first goal for India to equalise in the 93rd minute as the spoils were shared.
David Najem did well to get behind India's defence and set up Nazary who got past Gurpreet Singh Sandhu in India's goal and put his team ahead.