Jayesh Rane will be keen to make his mark for ATK in Hero Indian Super League 2017-18 as the two-time champions eye a successful title defence. They take on Kerala Blasters FC in the league’s curtain-raiser at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi on Friday. It’ll be a repeat of last season’s grand finale and promises to be a fiercely contested affair. A new addition to ATK’s squad this season is the highly-rated Jayesh Rane, who switches to ATK following three seasons with Chennaiyin FC. The 24-year-old winger bagged three assists in Chennai’s road to the title in 2015 and scored one goal for them last year. Rane spoke to indiansuperleague.com recently and shared his thoughts on the upcoming season. Here are the excerpts from the interview.

New season, new clubs and a longer season. Excited about it?

Yes, I’m excited about it. And Kolkata are two-time champions, so it will be a good challenge for me. And yeah, challenge accepted!

You’ve been a part of Chennaiyin FC in previous years. What’s it going to be like playing against them in ATK colours?

It’ll be difficult, but every player likes to play against his ex-team. So, I am looking forward to it and I hope ATK wins this time.

Defending champions again, so there’s going to be that added pressure. You think heading into the season with a completely new team and management helps you?

You can never say that because the players we have are very good and for every position we have competition. The team we have made is very good, the management is good, and everyone is working hard for this. So, it will be tough, but I think we can make it.

ATK were in absolutely rampant form in pre-season, so does this bode well for you’ll ahead of the season opener? The confidence in the team must be really high, right?

The confidence in the team is very high and the pre-season matches were also very good. All of them (the players) performed very well. There were some injuries, but the players are coming back. If the preparation is good, the result will obviously be very good. So, let’s see what happens now.

You’re an attacking player and you’re working with Teddy Sheringham, so how much of a plus is this for you?

Most of the time he (Sheringham) looks for players to score goals and he wants me to do that too as an attacking player. I hope I’ll live up to his expectations.

Would you like to say anything to the passionate football fans of Kolkata?

I would request them to come for our matches and support us! We will do our best to give you joy and also the third trophy. We’ll try our best, thank you!