Kochi: Bollywood glamour overshadowed a tepid game of football as Kerala Blasters and champions ATK played out a goalless draw in the ISL-4 opener at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Friday.
For once a macho Salman Khan had more stepovers than a profusion of talented footballers put together and one might wonder if the two most talked about sides in the field were still in pre-season.
Fans had more than a glimpse of Bulgarian superstar Dimitar Berbatov, who started and completed 90 minutes, and so nearly made his debut memorable only to be denied by a timely low save from Debjit Majumder late in the game.
Kerala head coach Rene Meulensteen and counterpart Teddy Sheringham had claimed pre-match that the idea of increasing the quota of Indian players in a playing XI was progressive for the league, but the duo, also making their ISL debuts as managers, had a first-hand feel of the incongruity that was to find the right man for the right position.
Meulensteen’s dilemma was to find a role for Arata Izumi and his central-midfield pairing with Milan Singh was not a smooth transition from the Mehtab Hossain days.
For the visitors, who had lifted their second title here last December the inclusion of Hitesh Sharma gave a fresh outlook to their counter-attacking game.
Sharma gave a good account of his prodigious talent, both on and off the ball.
