The first player after independence to score a hat-trick for India was Sheoo Mewalal in a 4–0 victory over Burma in the 1952 Asian Quadrangular Football Tournament.
Chhetri has achieved the feat four times, the latest of which came in India's 4–0 victory over Pakistan in the opening match of the 2023 SAFF Championship.
[18] As of 29 March 2021, India have conceded nineteen hat-tricks, the most recent being scored by Ali Mabkhout in a 0–6 defeat by the United Arab Emirates in a friendly match.
[21] Two other players, Bader Al-Mutawa of Kuwait in a friendly fixture and Ismail Abdullatif of Bahrain in the 2011 AFC Asian Cup, have also scored four goals against India.
[22][23][24] The only instance of India not losing a game even after conceding a hat-trick occurred against Yemen in a 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification match on 4 May 2001, which ended in a 3–3 draw.