Chhetri proud of Indian team's ranking but not contented

Pleased and proud at the Indian football team's best-ever current FIFA ranking of 101 in more than two decades, its talismanic striker and skipper Sunil Chhetri on Monday cautioned his teammates not to remain contented.

"I am happy. In the 11 years I have been playing for the nation, we have never reached this (101st) ranking. I am proud of the team. But what I meant (after that) was we should not get carried away," Chhetri said.

He spoke on the sidelines of the unveiling of the UEFA Champions League Trophy, as part of Heineken's trophy tour campaign, by former Spanish football star Luis Garcia.

"We shouldn't think that in two months we have done everything, crossed 40 teams and done better than them. We have jumped the rankings, because of the way rankings work," he said. "If you lose an important tournament at home against not-so-fancy team, you lose (drop) 30-40 (places) in the ranking. It also depends on how many teams are playing, (their) importance, who is playing away. It (ranking) is very fickle," he said.

According to Chhetri, India has done well, winning 11 of the 13 international games, but it cannot remain contented. He also termed India's 1-0 win over Myanmar, a victory that has come after several decades, in the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers in Yangon as an important one. "I am happy that we (defeated) Myanmar in an away game and it was not an easy match. But now the real test comes, Kyrgyzstan, whom we play at home and away, first at home. We are going to try and win it and then we have two games (against) Macau," he remarked.