India U17 team notched a morale-boosting 3-0 win over Mauritius at Goa on Thursday morning in their final friendly ahead of next month's FIFA U17 World Cup.
The game, which was scheduled to be held on Wednesday evening, was postponed to Thursday morning following heavy showers at the Nagoa ground.
However, the game started amid bright sunshine and India had a good chance within the first 20 minutes when striker Abhijit Sarkar sent a shot over from a promising position. Mauritius also showed their intent by forcing goalkeeper Dheeraj Singh into a save three minutes later.
Though the first half remained goalless, India had the better chances and were in the ascendancy. Luis Norton de Matos' charges, boosted by several second-half substitutions, made the supremacy count in the second half.
Twenty minutes into the second half, substitute Boris Singh put India ahead, thanks to good work from Suresh Singh.
In the 81st minute, Saurabh scored from the edge of the box, after receiving a pass from Shahjahan, to make it 2-0 for India. The Blue Colts could have made it 3-0 immediately but Boris missed with his shot by a whisker.
Aniket Jadhav evntually made it 3-0 towards the end of the game, after latching on to Boris Singh's pass to seal a comprehensive result for the team ahead of the showpiece tournament next month.