The 2021-22 edition of the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) has been a goal-laden affair so far and has breached the 100-goal mark in record time.

The milestone was reached as Greg Stewart scored his second goal of the night to make it 3-0 in Jamshedpur FC's favour in the match against Odisha FC on Tuesday in the 29th game of the season. 

That goal meant the Hero ISL 2021-22 season was the fastest to 100 goals, beating the previous best tally of 34 matches in the 2018-19 campaign.

Season	Number of matches to reach 100 goals
2021-22	29
2018-19	34
2017-18	38
2019-20	39
2015	39
2016	46
2014	46

Hero ISL 2021-22 campaign that’s seen many high-scoring affairs including a 6-4 scoreline between Odisha FC and SC East Bengal thus also has a significantly higher goals per game ratio compared to previous seasons.

The ongoing campaign has averaged 3.61 goals per game beating the previous best tally of 2.86 in the 2018-19 season.

Metrics	2021-22	2020-21	2019-20	2018-19	2017-18	2016	2015	2014
Matches	29	29	29	29	29	29	29	29
Goals	101	65	75	83	77	54	75	63
Goals Per Match	3.61	2.24	2.58	2.86	2.65	1.86	2.58	2.17

Apart from the excitement that these goals bring, there’s more reason for the Indian football faithful to be happy about as the new campaign has seen more Indian attackers being involved in not just scoring goals but also assisting them compared to the last season.

28 goals have been scored by Indian players this season which is more than any other previous season after 29 matches. 

In terms of assists, Indians have supplied 24 assists which is also the highest tally at this point in the campaign in Hero ISL history.

Season	Goals by Foreign  Players	Goals by Indian  Players	Indian   Player %
2014	52	11	17.46%
2015	51	22	30.13%
2016	46	8	14.81%
2017-18	53	22	29.33%
2018-19	56	26	31.70%
2019-20	53	21	25%
2020-21	53	10	15.87%
2021-22	69	28	27.72%

The rise in numbers for Indians is obviously a result of the increased number of Indian players on the pitch this season following the implementation of the Asian Football Confederation’s 3+1 foreign player rule in the Hero ISL. But it’s heartening to see how the Indian forward have stepped up and grabbed their chances this season.

Another reason to be delighted with the goalscoring numbers this season, especially of Indian players is that the average age of the Indian goalscorers has reduced so far this season and is at its lowest in the Hero ISL history at this point in the season.

The average age of Indian goalscorers this season is 24 which is the lowest at this point of the season across the previous Hero ISL seasons. 

Season	Average Age (Indian  Scorers)
2014	24.9
2015	26.83
2016	28
2017-18	26.71
2018-19	24.71
2019-20	24.87
2020-21	25.29
2021-22	24

The attacking talent on show has made the matches more entertaining and the defenders’ job more difficult. There have been only nine clean sheets kept in the Hero ISL this season after 29 matches. At this point, there were 20 clean sheets recorded in the Hero ISL 2020-21 season.

The defences of the teams will be working on improving that clean sheet count, but as this season has shown, it is tougher than ever to contain the attacking talents on display. Let the goals keep coming!