Diwali eve in the Indian Super League produced an eight-goal upset in Chennai and a clean sheet in Pune. Chennaiyin FC, winless until Saturday, beat defending champions East Bengal 5-3, while Sporting Club Delhi collected three points against Inter Kashi with a 3-0 win.
Chennai: two braces and two penalties
At the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Saturday, 7 November 2026, Chennaiyin went at East Bengal from the first whistle. Brison Fernandes finished a move set up by Irfan Yadwad in the fourth minute and then beat goalkeeper Prabhsukhan Gill again in the 18th to make it 2-0. East Bengal, who had conceded only once in the league all season, found themselves two down inside 20 minutes.
Ake Loba pulled one back with a right-footed strike in the 29th minute, but Ramon Tanque restored the two-goal cushion from the penalty spot in the 41st. East Bengal responded straight after the break: Dani Ramírez converted a 47th-minute penalty awarded for a handball by Muhammed Saheef, and at 3-2 the game was open.
Yadwad closed it. He scored just before the hour mark and again in the 67th minute, the second set up by Tanque, to make it 5-2. David Lalhlansanga's stoppage-time goal, from a Hardik Bhatt assist, was East Bengal's third but came too late to matter.
The Tribune and KhelNow differ slightly on the sequence of the penalties: The Tribune, using the ANI report, places Tanque's penalty in the 41st minute and Ramírez's in the 47th; KhelNow describes the visitors' penalty, following the Saheef handball, as coming early in the second half. Both agree on the 5-3 scoreline and the scorers.
What it means for the champions
Antonio Lopez Habas's East Bengal arrived in Chennai as the league's tightest defence and left having conceded five in a night. It is their first defeat of 2026-27. For Chennaiyin, the result ends a winless start and gives them their first three points of the campaign. Open the Magazine described it as Chennaiyin's first victory of the season, and the Tribune called it a thrashing of the defending champions.
Pune: Delhi make it look easy
Earlier on Saturday, at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune, Sporting Club Delhi beat Inter Kashi 3-0. Carlos Fortes gave Delhi the lead in the sixth minute with a close-range left-footed finish after Rodriguinho picked him out in the box. Inter Kashi's best moment came just before half-time, when Pratik Chaudhari's header struck the post.
Delhi doubled the lead in the 74th minute when Juan Peña headed in a cross from Manoj Mohammed, and Rodriguinho, who had earlier tested goalkeeper Shubham Dhas from outside the box, added the third in the 88th with a left-footed finish. ANI and the league's own match report both record the scorers and minutes identically.
Why it matters
East Bengal's defensive record was the story of the early season, and Chennaiyin dismantled it in a single half. The result tightens the top of the table and gives Chennaiyin a platform after a slow start. For SC Delhi, a new entrant playing out of Pune, a comfortable win over Inter Kashi, themselves promoted from the I-League, is the kind of result a first-season club needs to settle.
What next
The published ISL fixture list shows no league matches on Sunday, 8 November, and the next listed fixtures, per the schedule carried by Olympics.com, begin on 20 November after the international window. Phase one of the schedule, 78 matches across 14 matchdays, runs to 17 January 2027.
