Kolkata: With the absence of star forward Sunil Chhetri for the tri-series opener defender Sandesh Jhingan has been declared as the captain of the national team for the first match against Mauritius.
Having made his debut for the national team in 2014 after impressive performances in the Indian Super League, Jhingan has gone on to establish himself as one of the main defenders in the team. Now he has been given the additional responsibility of leading the Blue Tigers in an international match.
The Men in Blue go into the tri-series tournament with a record of eight consecutive wins on the trot and Sandesh Jhingan who has been an important part of this great run, thoroughly deserves the arm band.
India take on Mauritius in the opening match of the tournament in the Mumbai Football Arena and head coach Stephen Constantine considers this tournament to be perfect ‘stage to try new players,’ before the all important AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers.
“We’re playing two games before the AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers where I can try out more players. We got one team from the Caribbean region and another from Africa. It’s going to be a tough test for us ahead of the Asian Cup Qualifier,” he said in the pre-match conference.
“We haven’t played together since June. The ongoing camp and this tournament will help us get into the groove at the right time,” he added.
Constantine who is in his second stint with the Indian national team has had a very different approach giving debut to as many as 30 players in contrast to his first spell where he had a rigid team structure. He has now gone ahead and included 10 players of the U-23 team for the national camp and the tri-series.
Giving an account of his approach he said, “We’ve taken 10 boys from the U-23 team and they’re here along with the senior pros. We have to continue the development process to qualify for the Asian Cup regularly, eventually, which would lead us to the World Cup.”
Interestingly the Indian team has not only won 13 matches out of the last 15 they have played, but the defence led by Jhingan and Anas Edathodika, with Gurpreet at the post, have also managed to keep five clean sheets in the last eight matches. The newly appointed captain thinks it’s the coordination both on and off the field that has helped them perform together as an unit.
He said, “Off and on the field, I share a strong bonding with Anas which rightly reflects on the pitch. But, it’s not only me or Anas , it’s about Pritam, Narayan and of-course Gurpreet. We have respect for each other and we compliment each other. We really enjoy playing together and we’ll do so. ”
The rise of Sandesh Jhingan has nothing been short of a fairy-tale. Born in Chandigarh the lanky defender started his fooball career at the St. Stephen’s Academy. Good performances for the academy and the Chandigarh state academy earned him a place in the United Sikkim line-up in 2011. After helping the team secure a promotion to the I-League from second division, he earned a call up to the national team, but could not take part due an injury.
He had to wait till 2014 to make his debut for the Indian national team. From being a attacking side-back, to becoming India’s main central defender, Jhingan has come a long way.
With Constantine changing the arm-band of the national team on a regular basis, Jhingan might go on to become India’s next full-fledged captain after Sunil Chhetri and Gurpreet Singh Sandhu.