After 44 games of Hero Indian Super League 2016, there have been as many goals scored this season (98) as they were in the inaugural edition of the league, even though we had a slow start in terms of goal return this year. Surprisingly, however, this season’s conversion rate of 12% is better than Hero ISL 2014’s 9.1% and Hero ISL 2015’s 11.3% despite a dip in shots taken. With just two weeks of league stage action remaining before we head into the semis, here we take a look at a number of interesting developments as well as a few firsts to have emerged over the past few weeks.Goal-rushTeams have seen the back of the net ripple more consistently over the past two weeks. There were 18 goals this past week at an average of 3 goals/game. In fact, the total goal tally for the past two weeks averages to about 3.17 goals/game (38 goals in 12 matches) in stark contrast to the opening 32 games where there were only 60 goals at an average of 1.88 goals/match.The rise of Kean LewisKean Lewis has been one of the domestic revelations of Hero ISL 2016 and ensured that his name cemented in ISL folklore by becoming the 400th goal-scorer in the league when he netted the opener in Delhi Dynamos FC’s 4-3 loss against FC Pune City last week. The 24-year-old has six goal contributions (four goals and two assists), which is the fourth highest in the league alongside Mumbai City FC’s Diego Forlan and behind his teammates Marcelinho (9), Richard Gadze (7) and Florent Malouda (7).Delhi Dynamos – top entertainersThe Lions have donned the role of great entertainers this season having scored 21 goals in 11 games. Their 4-3 loss to Pune has to go down as one of the games of the season so far. Not only did it equal the record for most goals scored in a Hero ISL match – matching FC Goa’s 7-0 win against Mumbai City FC last year – it was also the first time a team scored thrice and went on to lose a match in the league.Mumbai City FC’s tryst with hat-tricksIt is no secret that Mumbai City FC are a completely different proposition under Alexandre Guimaraes this season after seventh and sixth placed finishes previously. They have achieved their best goal aggregate this year having netted 14 times so far, as compared to the previous seasons at the same point. Mumbai have also won away thrice this year – two more than they managed over the entirety of the past two seasons. However, one thing that remains the same is the club’s love affair with hat-tricks. After their marquee player Diego Forlan scored three against Kerala Blasters FC last week, Mumbai became the first and only team in the league to have registered at least one hat-trick every season. They had Andre Moritz score three goals for them against FC Pune City in a 5-0 win in Hero ISL 2014, while Sunil Chhetri became the first Indian hat-trick scorer against NorthEast United FC last year.
