ISL 2017/18: 5 most influential Indian players this season
The Indian Super League has come to the business end of the season, and this season too has seen its share of excitement and drama. This season we have had two new teams in the form of Bengaluru FC and Jamshedpur FC, which turned the 8 teams franchise-based league into a 10 team competition.
This season we also saw the league restructure its rules regarding the number of Indian players that were mandatory to be fielded at any point of time of play. With the new rule of Indian players coming into play we have been able to witness a lot more of Indian talents in the ISL compared to another season, also we have seen Indian players take up more responsibility compared to other seasons.
In this article, we take a look at the 5 most influential Indian players in the league. Please note that we have pointed out players based on their overall influence on their team and not just their stats or stardom, we have also tried to keep away big stars of Indian football from this list.
#5 Dhanpal Ganesh (Chennaiyin FC)
The only local lad from Chennai in the Chennaiyin line up has been a standout performer for the Super Machans. His big physical presence in the midfield has given players like Raphael Augusto and Rene Mihelic the freedom to go forward and play more freely. His hard tackling nature has made life difficult for opposing teams to play swift football against Chennaiyin. Dhanpal also scored his first goal in the ISL this season and is back in full form after suffering a season-long injury last season.
He has committed 57 fouls so far, and that stat goes on to show how much of the workload he has been taking. He has some good amount of blocks and clearances too and has a passing accuracy of 75% which isn’t bad at all. He has also at times played some very good passes for his forwards.
Dhanpal has been mainly praised this season though due to the way he has gone about doing all the dirty work for Chennaiyin in the middle of the park. His bulldozer style football could come in handy for the national team too, and Dhanpal will surely want to get back his spot in the national team something he lost out on after getting injured. His presence during set pieces has been a big boost for Chennaiyin FC.