ISL franchises go for big names in players draft

Mumbai, July 22 (IANS) The Indian Super League (ISL) franchises went all out for the big names in Indian football on the first day of the player's central draft here Tuesday.

The draft proceedings saw the participating six club officials engage in a lot of permutations and discussion before making the final selection of their choice.

Overall, 26 players, who have donned the Indian jersey in the last three years were drafted by the clubs on the first day.

India midfielder Lenny Rodrigues was the first to be drafted in by Team Pune while team mate Mehtab Hussain will travel down south to play for Kochi Blasters FC in inaugural edition of Hero Indian Super League. This will be the first time both Lenny and Mehtab would be seen displaying their trade for clubs outside of their home towns, Goa and Kolkata, respectively.

Besides, goalkeeper Subrata Paul was drafted in by Team Mumbai while Francis Fernandes will play for Delhi Dynamos FC.

India defender Gouramangi Singh was drafted in by Team Bengaluru who also picked up 2013 AIFF Young Player of the Year Awardee, striker Jeje Lalpekhlua.

The following is the list of players who were drafted in by the franchises on the first day:

Team Pune: Lenny Rodrigues, Dharmaraj Ravanan, Ashutosh Mehta, Joaquim Abranches, Pritam Kotal, Manish Maithani, Israil Gurung.

Team Mumbai: Subrata Paul, Lalrindika Ralte, Syed Rahim Nabi, Raju Gaikwad, Subash Singh, Ram Malik, Deepak Mondal

Kerala Blasters FC: Mehtab Hussain, Sandesh Jhingan, Ishfaq Ahmed, Gurwinder Singh, Nirmal Chettri, Sushant Matthew, Godwin Franco.

Team Bengaluru: Harmanjot Khabra, Dhanachandra Singh, Jeje Lalpekhlua, Gouramangi Singh, Shilton Paul, Denson Devadas, Khelemba Meitei.

Atletico de Kolkata: Cavin Lobo, Arnab Mondal, Denzil Franco, Rakesh Masih, Mohammed Rafique, Mohammed Rafi, Biswajit Saha.

Delhi Dynamos FC: Francis Fernandes, Robert Lalthamuana, Naoba Singh, Shylo Malswamtluanga, Shouvik Ghosh, Shouvik Chakraborty, Munmun Lugun.

Team Goa: Laxmikant Kattimani, Debabrata Roy, Gabriel Fernandes, Clifford Miranda, Jewel Raja Shaikh, Alwyn George, Narayan Das.

North East United FC: Kunzang Bhutia, Jibon Singh, Durga Boro, Aibor Khongjee, Zodingliana Ralte, TP Rehnesh, Boithang Haokip.