India's worst fears came back to haunt them when continental powerhouse Saudi Arabia thrashed Bob Houghton's men 7-1 to book a place in the Asian Cup Football Championship, to be held in south-east Asia next year.
The hosts punished the Indians for taking a shock lead midway through the first half, when defender N S Manju capitalised on a mistake by Saudi goalkeeper Mohamed Khojah to head home.
The goal, India's first in the AFC Cup qualification campaign in four matches, was almost immediately neutraliased when Saleh Bashir scored on the half-hour mark, beating the Indian off-side trap.
Marcos Pacqueta's team took the lead three minutes later when Eisa Al Mehiani found the net.
With their initial advantage evaporating, the Indians hung on doggedly till the half-time whistle, ensuring no further setbacks.
But the floodgates seemed to open after the break with the Saudis piling on one raid after another on the visitors' goal.
No less than five goals were pumped in by the hosts who were eager to compensate for a less than stellar performance in front of their fans in the first half.
Within a minute of the restart, Bashir found the net through the legs of Indian custodian Sandip Nandy, signaling that the Saudis had scented blood.
Ten minutes later, Mohamed Ameen scored with a solo run before Badr Al Hagbani made it 5-1 just after the hour mark with a strong left-footer from the edge of the penalty area.
Ahmed Al Suwaileh, who was drafted in the side in place of Yasser al Qahtani, the Saudi hat-trick hero in Kolkata, came off the bench to score the sixth in the 78th minute after a neat pass from Hagbani, and completed the demolition job with a header with four minutes to go.
So imperious was the Saudi performance yesterday -- especially in the second half -- that the team never missed Qahtani and AFC Asian Player of the Year Hamd al Montashahri.
Under new English coach Bob Houghton, India had put up a impressive show despite losing 3-0 to Saudi Arabia in their home match but the vistors spit fire in their own den, exposing the chasm between the two sides.
It is back to the drawing board for India as the heavy defeat may leave a scar on the side, many of whose players are still young enough to play Under-23 football.
Houghton's team faces another daunting task on October 11 when it hosts defending champions Japan at Bangalore in the next match. It would be up to the coach to pick up the players
after such a demoralising result.
The only positive they can take out of the game would be that they managed to break their goal-scoring duck in the competition.
They may use that to motivate them for the Asian Games in Doha in December and the Olympic qualifiers next year.
Having secured qualification for the Asian Cup, to be held in Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia and Vietnam next year, Pacqueta can now try out some of the youngsters at his disposal in the remaining two fixtures in the campaign.
Japan, themselves secured Asian Cup qualification when an injury time goal in Sana'a from substitute Kazuki Ganaha secured a 1-0 victory over Yemen.
Qatar and UAE were the other two teams to guarantee themselves a berth in the finals to be played from July 7 to 29 next year.
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