Yet another incident of a brawl involving the Indian team took place in the ongoing SAFF Cup 2023 on Tuesday as the Blue Tigers took on Kuwait in their final group match in Bengaluru.
A fiery brawl was witnessed in the 88th minute of the match when Kuwait's Hamad Alqallaf pushed Sahal Samad to the ground after the Indian mid-fielder's high-boot challenge.
Samad's teammate Rahim Ali then got involved and pushed Alqallaf before players from both sides got involved in the clash and had to be separated by the match officials.
Alqallaf and Rahim were both sent off with a red card before the match resumed at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium.
But even before this incident, India head coach Igor Stimac was shown the red card after he got into a heated argument with the match officials and was sent off in the 81st minute. He was earlier handed a yellow card for disrupting play.
This is the third time in as many games that Indian players and Igor Stimac have been involved in fights on the field during this tournament after the incidents against Pakistan and Nepal last week.
India's clean sheet record also came to an end in this game as Anwar Ali's own goal cancelled out captain Sunil Chhetri's opening strike.
It was the first own goal conceded by India in 831 minutes, ending a run of 8 successive clean sheets which is the longest such run managed by the Blue Tigers in international football.
