The hosts made the perfect start when, with many in the crowd of almost 18,000 still finding their seats, they hit the back of Siwarak Tedsungnoen's goal.

Ismail Al Hammadi burst into the area and attempted to clip the ball over the Thai keeper, only for the ball to come back off the crossbar. But Mabkhout rose to head home the rebound from inside the six-yard box.

That was just a preview to the danger posed by Chanathip and, with four minutes left in the half, the Consadole Sapporo midfielder unlocked the UAE defence to secure the equalizer.

The midfielder's deft ball into the area caused Mohamed Ahmad to panic and, in the ensuing mix-up, Thitiphan Puangjan slipped the ball past Eisa, with his strike delighting the vociferous band of Thais at the far end of the stadium.

Meanwhile, India suffered early problems at the back when Anas Edathodika was forced off with an injury in the fourth minute and was replaced with Salam Ranjan Singh.

Bahrain then applied pressure on the Blue Tigers' defence as goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu was called into action three minutes later when he saved Sayed Dhiya Saeed's left footed shot from outside the box.

India were able to calm their nerves and responded in the 20th minute with Sunil Chhetri coming close to scoring for Stephen Constantine's side but the striker failed to steer Gurpreet Singh's long pass home.

Bahrain were the more dangerous side but wasted chances with Jamal Rashed and Sayed Dhiya Saeed both failing to find the mark with long-range efforts.

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