Gurpreet Singh Sandhu's Heroics Secure India's 2-1 Victory, Launching Khalid Jamil Era in CAFA Nations Cup

The Khalid Jamil era of Indian Football is off to a sensational start, as the senior men's national team beat Tajikistan 2-1 at the Hisor Central Stadium, with a superb backs-to-the-wall defensive effort in the second half.

Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, named captain on his return to the national team, saved a penalty in the second half, and made some other top saves, as he justified Khalid Jamil's decision to give him the number one shirt, in the absence of Vishal Kaith.

Before that, India had a start that few could have dreamt off. Within 13 minutes, they were 2-0 up, both goals came from set-pieces.

First, in the fifth minute, a long throw from debutant Muhammed Uvais was not dealt with by the Tajik defence, and after some pinball in the box, Anwar's header from close range deflected off Akhtam Nazarov into the net. Eight minutes later, Uvais went short with a throw-in, got the return pass from Lallianzuala Chhangte, and overhit the cross to Anwar at the back-post. However, he kept the ball back in play, played an inch-perfect cross to Rahul Bheke. The Bengaluru FC man's header was saved by Muhriddin Hasanov, but the rebound was tapped home by Jhingan from close range.

After that, the Tajiks were crossing a lot from wide positions, but the Indian defence stood firm. The only moment of uncertainty in the first half was duly punished, as Shahrom Samiev shoved Jhingan off the ball following indecision from the Indian centre-back, and calmly slotted a finish past Gurpreet.

In the second half, Gurpreet had to make two big saves off shots from Alisher Jalilov, and then had to step up when the referee gave a penalty, rather controversially, for Vikram Partap Singh's tussle with Rustam Soirov in the box.

Soirov himself stepped up, but his penalty was rather weak, and wasn't placed well. Gurpreet dived to his right and then improvised to push the ball away with his foot, to keep India's lead

As far as starts go, Jamil will take this, but there's a big test coming up next, as India face Iran on Monday in their second group game.

You can re-live all the action, as it happened, in our live blog, below: