Balwant’s chance to make his mark

Last year in August, the Mumbai Football Arena was hosting the tri-nation cup between India, Mauritius and St Kitts & Nevis. The home team was facing Mauritius in the opening game and the contest was tied 1-1 at halftime. Coach Stephen Constantine made three changes to the side to bag the three points against the underdogs.

Among the substitutes was Balwant Singh, who replaced the first-half goalscorer, Robin Singh. He started getting involved in the play and soon the debut turned into a dream.

In the 62nd minute, an acrobatic cross from Jeje Lalpekhlua met Balwant’s feet and the ball sneaked into the Mauritian goal sending the home team into a lead. Just minutes into his debut, the striker scored the goal that went on to be the winner.

The stadium soon became his home after Mumbai City FC picked him in the player draft. Coach Alexandre Guimaraes preferred him to other foreign strikers and had given him the number nine role to lead the attack. With a tight schedule of games, he will have his chance with the manager shuffling the team.

But even then, Balwant has been the second choice for Constantine. It is only in Sunil Chhetri’s absence that he makes the team sheet. The striker is battling the odds to change that and enter the playing eleven. He is featuring in the Indian squad for the Intercontinental Cup that begins here on Friday.

In the 2014-15 I-League season, Balwant scored in four consecutive games for Mohun Bagan FC. Chhetri is the only other player who achieved this feat previously in the 2008-09 season with East Bengal FC. The latter is the most established player in Indian football but the former is rising to the occasion in the skipper’s absence when it comes to leading the attack.

“I can only take it as a motivation because if I take pressure then my performance level will dip. It’s good that there is competition; we are improving every day,” says Balwant.

When the Indian Super League season started, Balwant was productive in the first half. He found the net six times in eight games for MCFC but the latter half was equally disappointing. He only managed to score once in the next eight games that featured him.

Head coach Guimaraes has always backed him though. At each press conference, he only had words of praise for the striker. “I always tried to keep myself on the scoring sheet. I was doing the same things in the first half of the season as the second. Sometimes it does not happen in a match,” says Balwant of his ISL form. “My attitude has always been the same.”

Being the second choice striker has bothered him of course. “No one likes being a substitute but whenever I get my chance, I am there around the goal to make a mark,” he says. “As a striker, I am not setting any particular target,” he says. But he is eager to make a mark when he gets the chance. “As a striker, I only want to score many goals for the country and help the team as much as I can,” he says.

Even after a topsy-turvy Indian Super League season with Mumbai City FC, Balwant was chosen by Indian football team coach, Constantine for the Asian Cup qualifiers against Kyrgyzstan. And he again finds himself in the squad for the Intercontinental Cup that starts from Friday.

Just a week ago, Jeje Lalpekhlua had said that the team does not have to worry about striking option in Chhetri’s absence as long as they have Balwant in the squad.

From making his debut in Mumbai and scoring his first goal to making it to the city’s ISL franchise, Balwant has taken pleasure in all of it. “I had a great time while playing in Mumbai because of the fans. Even when we played for the national team here, we got a lot of support. It’s amazing to play in this city,” he says.