I-League 2017: 5 Indian strikers to look for this season
2017's Indian football calendar begins with the I-league which is scheduled to kick off this upcoming Saturday. After the Indian Super League brought 2016 to a close, it's the I-league which will draw the curtains on this new year.
With that in mind, we look ahead to the strikers most likely to do well in this upcoming I-league season, and it includes two players from defending champions Bengaluru FC who are gunning for a third crown in four years.
#1 Sunil Chettri (Bengaluru FC)
India's top all-time goalscorer for the national side considers 2016 to be his finest year in his long career. Chettri has said that the i-league success last season, coupled with Bengaluru's run to the AFC Cup final and his ISL side Mumbai City's semifinals run, along with the national side's triumph in the SAFF Cup contributed to that.
Chettri scored twice in last year's I-league campaign for Bengaluru and netted twice more in the AFC Cup run and his goals and assists also helped Mumbai City get into the playoffs for the first time in the ISL.
Despite those stats, Chettri was guilty of missing some easy chances for both Mumbai City in the ISL and Bengaluru in the AFC Cup final, something that he will be looking to put right this year, beginning with Bengaluru's campaign to defend their I-league title. With young starlets cropping up around, the veteran will look to prove that he still is amongst the elite in the striking department in India.