Experienced footballers Sandip Nandy, Climax lawrence, N P Pradeep and Steven Dias were among the home-grown stars picked on day two of the domestic players draft for the Indian Super league, here on Wednesday.
A total of 84 players were on offer in the two-day draft process that concluded on Wednesday.
Former India goalkeeper Nandy was among the first from the second lot of 42 players to be chosen today, by Kerala Blasters - a team co-owned by cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar and coached by successful ex-East Bengal coach Trevor Morgan.
Midfielders lawrence, Dias and Pradeep had to wait till the last few rounds before being picked by Athletico de Kolkata, Delhi Dynamos and Bengaluru respectively.
Among the others to be picked were Sanju Pradhan and Mehrajuddin Wadoo who were chosen by Kolkata and Pune franchises respectively.
Several talented youngsters were also picked by the six franchises over the last two days while two other franchises - Goa and North East FC - announced their pickings - done prior to the draft - after each round.
The first lot of 42 players was picked on day one of the draft on Tuesday.
The player pool was a mix of seasoned, experienced senior national players and promising young talents from across the country.
In terms of playing positions, ISl draft pool had 27 attackers (forwards and wingers), 21 midfielders, 26 defenders and 10 goalkeepers.
It also included 30 players on loan from four I-league clubs, as well as free agents who have been centrally contracted.
ISl has also made provision of additional seven players in the Central Reserve Pool to serve as future replacements in case of injuries or other emergencies.
Speaking to reporters, Dias said he was very excited to be playing for Delhi.
“I have always enjoyed playing in Delhi during the Nehru Cup and Durand Cup,” he said.
He also said that the ISl will help Indian footballers “get to know where we belong and to learn from international footballers”.
lawrence, on free transfer from Goa, will be back playing in Kolkata where he had played for I-league clubs before and said ISl needed experienced players too.
“There will be international players too. I am looking forward to the kick off,” he said.
Current international Gouramangi Singh, picked on Tuesday by Sun Group-owned Bengaluru franchise, said he was very happy that he would be playing in the IPl-style event.
“A lot of people and a lot of my friends are waiting for ISl to kick off. I am not saying ISl is going to change everything in Indian football. But it’s a big step and we are on the right track,” he said.
Draft picks
Delhi Dynamos: Adil Khan, Manish Bhargav, Govin Singh, Jagroop Singh, Steven Dias, Anwar Ali, Manandeep Singh, Naoba Singh, Robert lalthamuana, Francis Fernandes, Shouvik Ghosh, Shouvik Chakraborty, Munmun Timothy lugun, Malswamtulunga
Athletico de Kolkata: Sanju Pradhan, Kinshu Debnath, lester Fernandes, Subashish Roy Chaudhary, Baljit Sahni, Climax lawrence, N Mohanraj, Rakesh Masih, Denzil Franco, Arnab Mondal, Cavin lobo, Mohammed Rafi, Biswajit Saha, Mohammed Rafique
Bengaluru: Abhishek Das, Jayesh Rane, Abhijit Mondal, Anthony Barbosa, Dane Pereira, N P Pradeep, Jason Vales, Gouramangi Moirangthem Singh, Jeje lalpekhlua, Shilton Paul, Dhanachandra Singh, Harmanjot Khabra, Denson Devadas, Khelemba Meetei.
Kerala Blasters: Abhinav Bag, Sandip Nandy, C S Sabeeth, luis Baretto, Milagres Gonsalves, Ramandeep Singh, Renedy Singh, Mehtab Hossain, Sandesh Jhingan, Ishfaq Ahmed, Gurwinder Singh, Nirmal Chettri, Sushant Mathew, Godwin Franco
Mumbai City FC: Rohit Mirza, Ishan Debnath, Nadong Bhutia, Asif Kottayil, Peter Costa, lalrin Fela, Sushil Kumar Singh, Raju Gaikwad, Syed Rahim Nabi, SingamSubash Singh, lalrindika Ralte, Subrata Paul, Ram Malik, Deepak Mondal
Pune City: Deepak Devrani, Tapan Meetai, Arindam Bhattacharya, Anupam Sarkar, Pratik Shinde, lalit Thapa, Mehrajuddin Wadoo, lenny Rodrigues, Ravanan Dharmaraj, Ashutosh Mehta, Joaquim Abranches, Pritam Kotal, Manish Maithani, Israil Gurung
Goa: Mandar Rao Desai, Romeo Fernandes, Peter Carvalho, Pranoy Halder, Probir Das, Rowilson Rodrigues, Clifford Miranda, Gabriel Fernandes, Debabrata Roy, laxmikant Kattimani, Shaikh Jewel Raja, Alwyn George, Narayan Das
North East United: Pritam Kumar Singh, Milan Singh, Robin Gurung, Redeem Tlang, Semilen Doungel, David Ngaihte, Kunzang Bhutia, Jibon Singh, Durga Boro, Aibor Khongjee, Zodingliana Ralte, TP Rehnesh, Boithang Haokip
Reserves: Alvito D’Cunha, Soumik Dey, Abhra Mondal, Y C Meetei, Simranjeet Singh, Rajinder Kumar and Priyant Singh.