11 out of 26 ISL 'stars' yet to play a game

WITH INTERNET BEING AVAILABLE to a large part of the population, much of the advertising has moved online for most brands. And why not? It's cheap, diverse and manages to get the message across to the right people. The Indian Super League, too, has stood out with their persistent social media presence and promotions. But it is one thing to use Twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc to reach fans and publicise the ISL brand, but quite another to do so through tweets like this:

26 #HeroISL stars made the cut for India's probables against Iran. Find out who here: https://t.co/IMn1C0GpU1 pic.twitter.com/9P94sa2soF

— Indian Super League (@IndSuperLeague) July 30, 2015

Juggling facts and perceptions is a precarious act, and there's a fine line between coloured perspectives and embellished facts. This tweet by ISL's official twitter account, for example, chooses to brand the majority of the Indian football team as "ISL stars", which is an exaggeration to say the least. Especially when you take into account that 11 of these proclaimed "stars" have never played an ISL match. 

Even if you let go of the fact that few of these players actually rose to prominence by playing in the ISL, this tweet is a blatant exaggeration of a ludicrous margin. Players like Sunil Chhetri, Robin Singh, C K Vineeth, Jackichand Singh, Eugeneson Lyngdoh and Rindo Anto, who form the core of the national team and are "stars" of Indian football in the true sense, will appear in the upcoming ISL but they have not played a single match in the cash-rich IMG-Reliance owned tournament so far. Others like Dhanpal Ganesh, Sehnaj Singh, Pronay Halder, Brandon Fernandes and Rowlin Borges have also never appeared for any ISL franchise till date.

Two of the goalkeepers included among the national team probables, Gurpreet Singh Sandhu and Sanjiban Ghosh, have never been a part of any ISL team. Gurpreet plays for Norway's Stabaek FC while Sanjiban is a part of I-League club Mumbai FC. 

Which brings no less than 13 players - almost half of the entire squad - have never played in the ISL. Contrast that with the fact that all 28 of these players have extensively displayed their skills in the I-League. Yet only a handful of them would be honoured with the tag of a "star."

It is entirely possible that ISL and I-League have different definitions of "stars". But it is curious how one can become a star of a tournament before they have played a single match in said competition.