Ball possession has acquired a great significance in contemporary football, and possession is invariably proportional to the passing accuracy of a team. The teams in the Hero Indian Super League may have taken a while to get their act together, but their passing has improved as the tournament has progressed and the players have grown familiar with each other. Four teams now have an Average Ball Possession rate of over 50 % while the other four are hovering close to the halfway mark. Of course, it is the individual players who contribute to the team’s overall passing totals. Here is the list of the best passers in the ISL so far.1. Bruno Arias (Delhi Dynamos FC): Delhi’s central midfielder Bruno Arias has completed the highest passes by an individual in his seven appearances for the club. His ability to retain the ball and find his teammates with pin-point passes has added solidity to the capital’s side’s midfield. The Dynamos have completed 2022 passes out of which 382 belong to the Spaniard. Arias has also scored one goal and assisted another out of the six Delhi have scored so far.2. Kondwani Mtonga (NorthEast United FC): The Highlanders have the best passing accuracy and the Zambian defensive midfielder with 314 passes, has been crucial to that statistic, and that too having missed one of their seven games. He has scored once too.3. Johan Letzelter (Mumbai City FC): A defender by position, the Frenchman has been played as a defensive midfielder by coach Peter Reid and has slotted well into the role. He has started in all of Mumbai’s games and has found his teammates 303 times. He even scored in Mumbai’s 5-0 thumping of FC Pune City.4. Youness Bengelloun (FC Goa): The French centre-back is the only defender in the list and the fact that he has stood out with 275 passes is an important reason why Goa are statistically the most attacking side in the league. Fluidity in passing the ball from the back has enabled Goa’s quick transition from defence to attack.5. André Moritz (Mumbai City FC): The second Mumbai player in the top five, the Brazilian, who has scored the solitary hat-trick of the ISL, is noted for his ball control and mazy runs through the opposing defence. But his ability to thread the ball through to his teammates is an even bigger attribute which is apparent in his 248 passes completed.As the tournament progresses and the teams get more cohesive, the players will look to up their passing by a notch. Perhaps, we may see some other players scale the passing heights!
