Baichung Bhutia walks around with a huge smile on his face nowadays. And why not? The veteran of Indian football is heartily pleased with the turn Indian football has taken over the last few days. Post NorthEast United FC's defeat to Atlético de Kolkata, Bhutia shared his thoughts on what has transpired in the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) so far. "It has been a great tournament till now. There have been some spectacular goals, the crowds have very supportive and we have had some great football", remarked the former Indian captain. When asked about his thoughts on how the Indian players had fared, he stated that there was room for improvement, "The boys have been good. We have our first Indian scorer in Balwant Singh from Chennaiyin FC. Some of the players can do much better. I would like to see some more Indian boys on the scoresheet. But I think they will learn from their mistakes and as the tournament progresses, we will see them doing better and better." Pausing to wave to a bunch of fans chanting his name, the stalwart also added that he was very impressed with the quality of the game both live and on television, and also remarked that according to him, Atlético de Kolkata was the team to beat. "They have been very organised. Their midfield is extremely sorted, though Borja's red card will hurt them. But overall, they have dominated games and have an extremely talented striker in Fikru upfront. They are the team to look out for." He afforded a grin when asked if NorthEast United's defeat was painful to take for him personally. "Yeah! The boys gave it their all but Kolkata's experience and physicality did them in. I hope that they will bounce back in the next game." Bhutia picked out Fikru Teferra Lemessa as the player of the tournament so far and listed Robert Pires and Luis Garcia as the most effective marquee players on display. "Pires is the fittest marquee player", he added. When asked to pick out the best Indian players, Bhutia went with Holicharan Narzary, Durga Boro, Clifford Miranda and Abhishek Das. "They have been very good for their respective teams", he said. He also reserved special praise for Gouramangi Singh, Subhasish Roy Chowdhury and Subrata Paul, "These boys have really impressed me with their game, commitment and passion." The crowd that swarmed around Baichung Bhutia as soon as the interview was over and serenaded him with chants of "Legend!" gave us a glimpse of the affection that Indian football fans still bear in their hearts for him.
