Interview with Robin Singh: It's a massive honour to be part of the same team as Roberto Carlos

Robin Singh proud to represent Delhi

City based loyalties often take the backseat as this new era of franchise based leagues usher across different sports in our country. While we see the likes of Dhoni being idolised in far-off Chennai in the IPL, there is a certain amount of charm which people seem to relish if they see a home boy turn out for their team. After all, not many would debate that Ganguly in Kolkata was a bigger attraction than Ganguly in Pune.

The IPL example aside, our footballers in the newly initiated Indian Super League are no different. Be it Sunil Chhetri, Subrata Pal or Eugeneson Lyngdoh, none of them play for the city that they hail from. The ones who do are deemed extremely fortunate and we caught up with one such star!

Born and raised in Delhi, Robin Singh's joy knew no bounds when he was picked up by the Dynamos in the pre-season auction at Mumbai. In an exclusive tete-a-tete with Sportskeeda, he opens about how the experience has been so far and the season ahead.

Excerpts:

Hi Robin, how special was it to be bid for and eventually bought by the Delhi Dynamos?

RS: It was great. As you mentioned I am from the city and have lived all my life here. Thus, to be picked by them is amazing. I can now have all my friends and family members come over for the games and that will make the ISL experience even more special.

You talked about the ISL experience, was it disappointing to not feature in the star-studded league last year?

RS: You see I was busy winning a championship at Bengaluru (I-League), so I didn't really miss much (chuckles)! On a serious note, though, I wasn't heartbroken or anything. I knew my tryst with the league will happen and I am glad it has worked out the way it has.

The Dynamos have been together for 3 weeks now. How has the team been gelling?

RS: It's a fun lot! We enjoyed ourselves like crazy in Sweden and Denmark and are now acquainted with each other a lot better. Also, as a team, the manager managed to work with us and as you would notice from our results (1win, 1 draw and 1 loss in pre-season), we have been getting progressively better.

Finally, your team is studded with big names like Roberto Carlos, John Arne Riise and Florent Malouda; how is it playing alongside these guys? Also, has the manager pre-defined a role for you yet?

RS: It's a massive honour to be part of the same team. I hope to learn a lot from these guys and hopefully by the time the league ends, I would emerge a much better player. As for the second part, I am not sure if I have been assigned a specific role or not yet, the manager shall take care of that over due course.