Boria Majumdar
Gurpreet Singh Sandhu was the hero with his decisive penalty shootout save as Indian overcame Oman to take third place in the CAFA Cup in Tajikistan. Dropped by Manolo Marquez for the start of the Asian Cup campaign, Gurpreet went back to his old stomping ground in Norway in the summer to rediscover his best form. In this exclusive chat with Boria Majumdar, he talks of the road back, and why India have reason to be optimistic with Khalid Jamil as coach.
Boria: From being dropped to being India’s saviour. The win against Oman. All of India’s celebrating. Your reactions on that?
Gurpreet: Firstly, I didn’t even realise that I have to save the penalty, and that if Udanta (Singh) scored, then we would have won. I wasn’t thinking that far, I was just trying to keep my composure in that moment and trying to make it difficult for penalty-takers. I was just using my small height of 6’6” [laughs] as an imposing figure, and see if that can work out. Fortunately, it did, and after I saved, I realised that people were running [towards me] and the game is finished because the referee has blown the whistle. But yeah, it was a good feeling. It was a great tournament for us because we faced a lot of good teams. If you look at the group, it’s almost similar to something that we might have at the Asian Cup as well. Iran, Tajikistan, then somebody like us and then Afghanistan, overall a good test for us. Especially after failing to get out of the group stage in the last two years of Asian Cup . It was nice to do that even if it was the CAFA Cup. It has got the momentum right for us.
Boria: Thoughts on how the team is gelling under Khalid Jamil? An Indian coach after a while. And also, thoughts on you and Sandesh (Jhingan) being the two most senior and responsible ones on the side.
Gurpreet: Honestly, I was the culprit when he got hurt (talking about Sandesh’s recent jaw injury). He bent down and raised his arm, but the ball was in my hand. We have this new eight-second rule that I need to get the ball out of my hands within eight seconds, and I didn’t realise that he was hurt. He was trying to tell me to kick the ball out or something like that. He needed attention, but I didn’t realise it. I saw in the video later, so I think Sandesh played on because I didn’t give him a chance to take a look at his injury.
But there is no doubt Sandesh has played with worse injuries, and I’m very very thankful and grateful that he didn’t get injured even more. He managed to play all the minutes and stand there like a wall. It is good that he is recovering well because he is very important for us, and is always a leader – the person who sets an example in the team. And about Khalid Sir’s approach, it’s that we are trying to do justice to it. Being an Indian coach, I’m sure he feels more towards the team as well because it is his own country and he is the coach of it. Since day 1, we have understood this assignment – we didn’t have the time we wanted or we didn’t have minutes in our legs, we can’t use those excuses. We just need to go out there and try to win. For that, we first need to change our mentalities. We can’t go into games thinking “draw ho jayega, ya haar jaenge [It’ll be a draw, or we’ll lose]”, so changing our mentality is what we are doing here right now. We even applied this mentality, and thankfully, it worked out for us on a couple of occasions in this tournament. Going forward, we need to build on this.
Boria: Getting dropped from the national team, then having the motivation to push things back, going and training with your former club outside India, and finally making it back into the national team. Tell me about this whole journey of the last few months?
Gurpreet: It’s been crazy. I’ve never had something like before in life. All the time that I have faced something similar, I was still young and I hadn’t achieved much in my career. So, I had the hunger and the desire to not settle with what I’ve been given. But this time round, I had played already 75-plus games for the country and obviously achieved so much already with the nation. And in my 30s, to get dropped at that point, it was a different feeling. A lot of questions and doubts came to my mind and one only has two choices – either accepting fate or trying to do anything and everything to change that. I knew myself and what I can provide on the pitch, so I decided that I’m not going to accept this. I thought to myself that whether the call comes or not, I’ll go out and sacrifice my off-season to hopefully come back as a better product with more desire and hunger. This was all to prove to myself, and not anyone else, because every day I am the one I face when I wake up. Thankful it all worked out, but still, I have a lot more inside me to give, because I still feel like there’s a lot more to come from this team.
Boria: Trying to go outside India to try and regain everything. Was it tough to adjust? And, what all did you do in your off-season? Give us a peak on that.
Gurpreet: It was obviously difficult. A lot of delusions were there in my mind about how I am and everything, which in fact got corrected when I landed there. I knew the goalkeeping coach over there from the years before. I knew what he was going to do to me, so I just gave in, because I had that confidence in him. The first two weeks were very difficult, trying to adjust because it’s artificial turf there, and we don’t play on artificial turf. Also, my body being 33 takes more time than before to adjust. So it took time – a lot of painful moments, a lot of sleep, recovery, food for me to adjust to – but after three weeks, I was there with them and I was very, very happy with the output. Never had a doubt in myself and or the ability of the goalkeeping coach to bring me back, or at least somewhere back. Somewhere better than where I was before, when I landed there. As long as I was able to walk away, looking in the mirror thinking I have improved, I was happy with that.
Boria: For Asian Cup, we are not in a good space, yet overall, the chance is not lost either. How are you looking at it now that you have got the momentum back? Are you confident?
Gurpreet: Hundred percent, sir. If you don’t believe, then there’s no point coming to the camp and just going through the paces. We as a team know what we do, as players we know there’s more to come from us. It’s just that we need to demand more from ourselves when we put on the jersey, and have the desire and hunger to grind out results. It may not look all nice and neat to people, but we are here for a job and that’s to win. To do that, we have to do whatever it takes. And as I said, I believe that we can do it because if you don’t, there’s no point. Things might have been different because it’s CAFA, not the qualifiers, and October is going to be different. So, we need to have the same kind of ruthless mindset towards it. We can’t be relaxed. We need to do professional and mature jobs in those two games and take it from there. First, do it in Singapore, then come back home and take care of business one game and one day at a time, moving forward.
Boria: Thank You, Gurpreet Sandhu, for your time. Wish you all the very best.
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🎙️ Gurpreet Sandhu Exclusive:
From the pressure moments in the shootout, his comeback after being dropped, training abroad to rediscover his form, to his thoughts on Sandesh Jhingan, Coach Khalid Jamil’s impact, and India’s Asian Cup 2026 qualification hopes — Gurpreet opens up… pic.twitter.com/6XNym3WnuN
— RevSportz Global (@RevSportzGlobal) September 10, 2025