Kerala Blasters FC kicked off their Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2017-18 campaign with a strong defensive display to hold defending champions ATK to a 0-0 draw at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi on Friday. Indian international Sandesh Jhingan was solid at centre-back and picked up a clean sheet. Jhingan spoke to indiansuperleague.com shortly after the final whistle and shared his thoughts on the game. Here are the excerpts from the interview:

Sandesh, first match, it was hot and humid. Happy with the draw?

Of course, we wanted three points. It was the first game and it would have been a good start had we got the three points. But I think it was an even game to be honest. Neither side was taking any risk. So, I’m okay with the draw.

You were trying some through balls from the back. Was that something you have been working on?

I’m trying to improve on that for a long time and trying to get those balls in. We’re working on this and hopefully one day we’ll score goals from that.

And it’s fair to say that some of the tactics from the training are coming together? We saw you’all link up well going forward.

Yeah, we’ve been together for some time. We’ve had a good pre-season in Spain, so we’re bearing the fruits of that. The team is playing well together. Good combinations and good play, but there is still a lot of room for improvement, so hopefully we’ll improve and be ready for the next game.

How does it feel to finally get the Hero ISL underway?

It’s a great occasion obviously. I was telling people inside (the dressing room) that I just wanted to play football in front of the jam-packed crowd. This is what you play football for. All the people are watching you, and yes, we were waiting for a long time! It’s been a long pre-season of one and a half months. And this season the league is obviously bigger and better. So, I’m looking forward to the whole season.

As always, these fans are loyal to you. Any message for them?

I love you all! That’s the best thing I can say. Just keep supporting us, because more than us, we play it for them.