ISL Draft 2017: New Kerala Blasters star Jackichand Singh expected two other teams to select him

One of the biggest surprises in the this year's draft was probably the fall of Jackichand Singh who was only selected by the fifth pick in the eighth round of the 2017 ISL Draft by the Kerala Blasters. However, he was luckily not in town and thus didn't have the jangling nerves of waiting for his name being called out.

"I arrived here a bit late. I came to the draft at around 1:30 (p.m.) so I didn't know what was happening. By the time I came here, Kerala had already picked me. I got to know when I switched on my mobile. Then Eugeneson (Lyngdoh) called me telling me of the news," quipped the winger.

"I was actually surprised to hear that I was heading to Kerala as I thought someone like Bengaluru or may be Mumbai would pick me. But it's a nice place to go to. We have a good side and they lost in the final last time. So I hope that I can lead them to the title this time around."

A regular in the Indian set up under Stephen Constantine, the former Royal Wahingdoh star had a disappointing season on the club front last time round. Whilst he struggled to get it going for Mumbai City last year in the ISL, he was a rather afterthought in Trevor Morgan's scheme of things at East Bengal.

And that could have played a huge role in him tumbling down the draft order.

He might not have got what he had wished for in terms of the team that picked. But, for Jacki, however, he told Sportskeeda that he can't wait to take the field in a yellow shirt for the Kerala Blasters.

"I am anxious to play for Kerala. I have played against them in Kochi and that stadium is just great. It will be great to have all those 60,000 people cheering for me rather than against," stated the 25-year-old.

Another factor that has the man from Manipur buzzing is the set of players that the Blasters have acquired in this draft.

"They already had (CK) Vineeth and Sandesh (Jhingan) and now I will be there and so will Milan. So I think we have a very strong Indian set of players there."

Amongst the Yellow Army's other main recruits from the draft are Rino Anto - who will this time be signing a permanent contract for the side after playing for the Blasters on loan earlier in his ISL career.

They also picked up Lalruatthara - a member of the current India U23 side - who also was a part of the I-League winning side for Aizawl. Another interesting pick up was Arata Izumi who looked quite pale last season for FC Pune City.