East Bengal's 8-0 Victory: Vishnu's Hat-Trick Shines in Durand Cup

KOLKATA – A week after the sting of a derby defeat, East Bengal walked back into the Kishore Bharati Krirangan carrying questions. It walked out having delivered a statement.

An 8-0 demolition of CISF Protectors in the Durand Cup 2026 turned a nervous group game into a night of catharsis for the Indian Super League champion, with PV Vishnu’s hat-trick and a brace from Jesin TK driving one of the biggest wins in the tournament’s long history.

This was not a contest. It was an unravelling.

Pressure from the first whistle

CISF Protectors kicked off, but East Bengal seized control instantly. Hardik whipped in the first cross inside a minute. It set the tone: red-and-gold shirts high up the pitch, CISF pinned deep in a low block, clinging on.

By the fourth minute, the frame of the goal had joined the visitors’ resistance. Vishnu met an Edmund cross with an acrobatic effort that crashed off the post, the first warning that CISF’s back line would struggle to live with his movement.

Chances arrived in waves. Edmund’s cutbacks, Hardik’s overlaps, Dani Ramirez pulling strings between the lines. Raj Mathur, in the CISF goal, produced a string of saves – a double stop from a free-kick and rebound on 29 minutes, another sharp intervention from a long-range strike by Vishnu on 18 minutes. For a while, it looked like he might hold the dam on his own.

He couldn’t.

Vishnu breaks through, East Bengal runs away

The breakthrough came in the 38th minute and it was worth the wait. Edmund again drove into the box from the flank and cut the ball back. Vishnu, facing away from goal, improvised, guiding a back-heel past Mathur. The finish had the swagger of a forward in complete control of his craft. The stadium, tense till then, exhaled.

From there, CISF Protectors unravelled.

On the stroke of half-time, East Bengal doubled its lead with an own goal that underlined the pressure the home side had built. CISF, defending desperately, turned the ball into its own net, and the scoreline finally reflected the pattern of the half.

The third arrived deep into first-half stoppage time and carried the mark of quality. Dani Ramirez drew both goalkeeper Raj and defender MD Khalid towards him, waited that extra heartbeat, then slipped the ball to the unmarked Jeakson Singh. The India midfielder tapped in from close range to make it 3-0 at the break. The contest was over. The hunt for a statement score had just begun.

Second-half onslaught

Any thought of East Bengal easing off evaporated within two minutes of the restart. In the 47th minute, left-back Sandip Mandi swung in a cross and Vishnu, brimming with confidence, met it with an overhead kick that flew past Raj. It was audacious, ruthless and emblematic of the gulf between the sides.

At 4-0, CISF Protectors’ heads dropped. Their shape sagged, the lines between midfield and defence stretched, and East Bengal began to toy with them. Hardik tried his luck from distance on 53 minutes, whistling a shot just wide. Lalchungnunga joined the fun from the back, rattling the post after another attack on 66 minutes, before Raj and the woodwork combined to deny Jesin and Edmund in quick succession.

Habas, sensing both the opportunity and the need to manage minutes, turned to his bench on 59 minutes. Off went Dani and Rashid, on came Bipin Singh and Rohit Kumar. The intensity barely dipped; the threat only shifted.

Bipin joins in, Jesin finally finds the net

The fifth goal arrived in the 64th minute. East Bengal broke in transition, catching CISF cold. A cross from the right found Bipin Singh arriving in the box, and he calmly tucked his finish past Raj. It was a simple goal, but it pushed the scoreline into the realm of embarrassment for the Protectors.

Jesin, who had worked tirelessly without reward, finally got his moment in the 70th minute. Released by a through ball along the right, he drove into the box, rounded Raj and drilled a low shot into the net. East Bengal 6-0 CISF Protectors, and the scoreboard still wasn’t done.

CISF’s resistance, already fragile, snapped completely. Two minutes of chaos turned a rout into a humiliation.

On 76 minutes, Jesin beat Raj again, adding his second and East Bengal’s seventh. Barely had CISF restarted when the ball was back in their area. Bipin delivered another cross and Vishnu, perfectly placed, steered it home to complete his hat-trick and push the score to 8-0. For CISF, it was now about survival, not football.

Chasing history, easing the hurt

At 8-0, East Bengal flirted with history. The margin drew level with the biggest recorded in the modern Durand Cup era, the 9-1 scoreline Dempo SC posted against Real Kashmir in 2016. The home side kept pushing, hunting a ninth that would stand alone in the record books.

Lalchungnunga hit the post, Edmund struck the woodwork, Bipin kept whipping in corners and crosses, but the ball refused to go in again. CISF, drained and demoralised, barely left its half. The second hydration break came and went with their players staring at the turf, shoulders slumped.

The final minutes drifted by with East Bengal still camped high, still pressing, still looking for more. In the 90th minute, Bipin swung in another corner, only for a teammate to head off target. It was that kind of night: almost everything went in, but not quite everything.

Referee Jehrul Islam’s whistle finally brought mercy. Full-time: East Bengal 8-0 CISF Protectors.

A response after the derby, a group thrown open

For Habas and his players, this was the perfect answer to the 1-0 loss against Mohun Bagan Super Giant that had opened their season. The win does not take East Bengal top of the group – the derby defeat keeps Mohun Bagan ahead on head-to-head – but it lifts the ISL champion to second, above South United, with one group game left.

That last match, against South United, now carries weight. The group’s top spot guarantees a place in the knockouts; second place may have to rely on other results. East Bengal has finally found its scoring touch in the Durand Cup. The question now is whether this eight-goal outburst is a one-night release, or the start of a ruthless march through the tournament.