Pune: One of the pillars behind FC Pune City’s good Indian Super League 2017-18 campaign (9W, 3D, 6L in the league) was their goalkeeper Vishal Kaith. The 21-year-old keeper, who has represented the Indian national team in various age groups, peaked in form as the season progressed and produced some crucial saves to keep the team from Pune in the battle for a play-off spot. The shot-stopper secured seven clean-sheets and made 45 saves in his 17 appearances for FC Pune City this season. But the story of Vishal Kaith would have been drastically different had it not been for a few individuals in his life. “I didn’t know a lot about goalkeeping when I went to the Sports Hostel,” says Kaith, who was more fond of playing cricket and boxing in his younger days in Himachal Pradesh. “I didn’t even know I will be a goalkeeper when I went there. It was the last year for the Hostel’s goalkeeper because he was about to graduate. There was no keeper, so the coach there, Vikram Panda, he saw my height and asked me to keep for a few days. So I started keeping and I think he saw something in me and made me a goalkeeper,” he adds. At 21, Kaith has progressed remarkably from the ’tall boy who could keep’ to becoming the first choice goalkeeper for an ISL side, and is slowly becoming a stable member of coach Stephen Constantine’s Indian football team. Though he might still be far away from replacing Gurpreet Singh as the last man of defence, the future is bright for the lanky footballer from the hills. The interview is a part of Firstpost’s Unwind series. Watch former Sacramento Kings star Kevin Martin’s interview here .