I-League 2021: Gokulam Kerala, TRAU and Churchill in race for title; three front-runners for season's top-scorer

Kolkata: With just the last round of fixtures remaining, three teams— Gokulam Kerala FC, TRAU FC and Churchill Brothers—are in the running for the I-League crown this season. The title could very well be decided by the last kick of the championship, with two matches featuring the three sides set to to be held simultaneously on Saturday. Even the race for the league’s top scorer award is tantalisingly poised as three front-runners will be in action at the same time on Saturday and just one goal separating them. Leading the charts is none other than TRAU FC’s Bidyashagar Singh, who has 11 goals to his name so far. He found the net for the first time in a 2-0 win against Chennai City FC and then scored in a 1-1 draw against Churchill Brothers. He came roaring up the charts after striking the net a whopping nine times in four consecutive games— including back-to-back hat-tricks against Mohammedan Sporting and Real Kashmir—  both of which came in the second phase of the tournament. Behind him are two foreign imports — Churchill Brothers’ Luka Majcen and Gokulam Kerala FC’s Dennis Antwi with 10 goals each. The Slovenian Majcen started off the campaign in a dazzling manner as he registered a brace in his first outing and has gone on to form a formidable pairing up top with fellow forward Clayvin Zuniga. Ghana international Dennis Antwi has been in red-hot form in the championship phase of the competition, scoring six goals in four games and taking his team to the top of the table with one game to play. Only one Indian in I-League history has finished as the top goal-scorer and that player is none other than India captain Sunil Chhetri, who scored 14 goals for Bengaluru FC in the 2013-14 season when his side went on to lift the trophy. Chhetri shared the top scorer award with Salgaocar’s Darryl Duffy, but should Bidyashagar maintain his lead at the top of the charts this season, he could become the first Indian forward to be the outright top scorer in any I-League campaign which will be a monumental feat.