Playing in the Asian Cup was a huge lesson for all of us, says Ashique Kuruniyan

After making a huge impact by winning their first match of the AFC Asian Cup against Thailand 4-1, the Indian team could not progress to the knockout stages even though they had to just sneak out a draw in their final match against Bahrain in their final group game. They fell short, losing the final match 0-1 through a penalty in added time. But Indian midfielder Ashique Kuruniyan believes that even though they could not make it to the top 16, the event was a good learning curve for the team.

“The difficulty level was naturally high and all three matches were against difficult opposition. The experience of playing in such a high-quality tournament was amazing. I feel my game has improved after this challenge and now, we have to take it forward from here.”

“I feel it was the last match against Bahrain. We had fewer chances to score and the opponents were playing a direct style of football. They were quite physical and were winning almost all the second balls. It was a tough outing for us.”