CHENNAI: The start of the new I-League season is only a few days away, but Chennai City is still putting the final touches on its squad. That hardly comes as a surprise, given it had barely 20 days to put together a team for its first game against Minerva FC on Sunday.
Goalkeeper Karanjit Singh is one of the few Chennai players who knows they will take to the field against the Ludhiana outfit. After an ISL campaign with Chennaiyin FC where he was able to dislodge Jamaican keeper Duwayne Kerr and reclaim the No 1 spot, the 30-year-old will look to continue that vein of form for Chennai City as well. He may still be waiting to find out who his fellow starters will be, but Karanjit is upbeat. A good start to their campaign against Minerva can surprise the naysayers, he feels.
“It’s a new season, and Chennai is getting a club in the I-League for the first time. So it’ll be really exciting,” Karanjit told Express.
“I’ve been with the team for a few days now. We’ve trained well, and we’ve to start playing the league games. Only then will we know how much we’ve gelled. Hopefully, we can get off to a good start. If we do so, there’s no saying where we’ll finish.”
The Chennai City training camp is in a state of flux right now, with a number of youngsters still waiting to know if they’ve made the I-League cut. But Karanjit believes there is a lot of potential about the team. “Right now, we still have people coming in,” the Hoshiarpur-born footballer noted.
“One of our foreign players has come in, but the two Brazilians we signed are yet to arrive. The young players that’re with the team right now, they definitely have the potential. But we can only know how they’ll take to the league once they start playing games.”
Karanjit though, is happy that he will be playing behind one of the most experienced defenders in the league right now — Chennai skipper Dharmaraj Ravanan. “It’s always great when you have an experienced defence in front of you, because that means less mistakes and less pressure on you,” he noted.
“And there are few defenders more experienced than Ravanan right now. He has played at a top level everywhere, be it I-League or ISL, and has turned out for big clubs like Mohun Bagan and Churchill. I’m happy to be playing alongside him,” concluded the stopper.
vishnu.prasad@newindianexpress.com