Sportskeeda Indian Football Awards: Top 10 Indian midfielders of 2016
Continuing our series looking at the top 10 Indian players in each position in 2016, we now move on to the midfielders. Some new talents have emerged, some veterans have shown that experience matters a lot more than a lot of other things on the football pitch.
These are the men who controlled the play for their sides, pulling the strings from the middle of the park. We have a clear winner though – head and shoulders above the rest of the field.
The voting by fans
We sent out a poll for fans to vote on which Indian midfielder had the best year, and Sportskeeda experts also weighed in on the matter.
The one with the highest vote received 10 points, and the one with the lowest got 1 point. The scores from Sportskeeda’s list and the Reader’s choice are then added together, with an average score being taken. In the situation of two players tied, Sportskeeda’s ranking takes preference.
Here’s how our readers voted:
Here are the rankings after Sportskeeda experts’ choices were also taken into consideration:
#10 Siam Hanghal
Readers’ Ranking – 10
The Manipuri must have had high hopes of himself heading into 2016. But in the I-League, he could not force himself into the reckoning for Bengaluru FC. He played only two games in the entire I-League season for the champions – a 4-1 home win against DSK Shivajians and a 2-2 draw at Sporting Clube de Goa. He also played three games in the group stage of Bengaluru’s dream AFC Cup run.
But he was released at the end of the I-League season, meaning that he could not be part of the home stretch of Bengaluru’s AFC Cup campaign. He was instead off to Perugia in Italy where Chennaiyin FC had their pre-season training camp.
Hanghal clearly impressed Marco Materazzi and featured in 10 out of the 14 games in the Chennaiyin’s disastrous defence of their title. He displaced Harmanjot Khabra from the side – that was big considering that Khabra had been one of Materazzi’s favourite Indians in the Chennaiyin squad.
The ISL has been another launchpad for Hanghal after the I-League didn’t go as well as he would have wanted it to. Now, it is about taking that form and translating it into more consistent performances at all levels.