Aniket Jadhav: I used to be a ball boy in Indian Super League

The 19-year-old was a part of the Indian squad in the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup and will be plying his trade for Jamshedpur FC this season.

It was not long ago that a 14-year-old Aniket Jadhav was passing balls to the likes of Pritam Kotal and Lenny Rodrigues in the inaugural edition of the Hero Indian Super League at the Balewadi Stadium in Pune. Six seasons later, Aniket is readying himself to face them in his first season of the Hero ISL with Jamshedpur FC.

On Tuesday, the Kolhapur-born youngster who shot to fame after he was selected for India’s FIFA U-17 World Cup 2017 team, made his dream debut in the ISL when he started for Jamshedpur FC against Odisha FC at the JRD Tata Sports Complex, Jamshedpur.

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“To be honest, I was very excited to join the Jamshedpur FC team for my first Hero ISL season. I am looking forward to the season,” said the Aniket Jadhav, who, after the U-17 World Cup, followed his development in the I-League with Indian Arrows.

Opening up on why he chose Jamshedpur FC, Aniket said, “When I was young, I used to follow the likes of Subrata Paul and Steven Dias (assistant coach at Jamshedpur FC). I actually used to be a ball-boy for the Hero Indian Super League during the first two seasons in the games at the Balewadi Stadium in Pune. I spoke to five-six senior players before signing for Jamshedpur and all spoke highly of the facilities and the team culture here.”

Aniket Jadhav spent a good three months training at English club Blackburn Rovers during the close season, gaining invaluable experience, which he plans on putting to use in the upcoming season.

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“It was a good exposure trip for me. I learnt a lot as a professional football player. There was so much knowledge to soak in from the coaches and the players at Blackburn Rovers. Surely, I would be able to put my learnings to use in this Hero ISL,” said Aniket Jadhav, who was snapped up by Jamshedpur FC the previous season before being loaned out to Arrows once again.

Aniket surely knew that the road to become the first name on the team sheet ahead of the likes of seasoned campaigner CK Vineeth and India international Farukh Choudhary is tough, he surely has worked his way up.

Now, after an hour of the taste of the thrill that ISL provides, he will be baying for more.