Tendulkar: I have no doubt that people will turn out to support their team

Kerala Blasters FC co-owner Sachin Tendulkar was present at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi to watch his side belatedly begin their home campaign in the Hero Indian Super League against FC Goa. The ‘Master Blaster’, after which his team takes its name, spoke exclusively to www.indiansuperleague.com at half-time about his experience of the ISL and about what he envisions for the Blasters in the future. Here are some excerpts from the interview:

How has the ISL experience been for you so far?

I think the ISL experience has been fantastic, the response is magnificent. I came here and the response is what we’re used to while playing cricket matches.

Do you think Kerala have finally blasted off?

Yeah, I think we’re playing our first home match after quite a while. The tournament started on the 12th of last month and now we are playing our first home game, which is a terrific thing for the Kerala Blasters because they’ve worked so hard out there playing away, now they’re at home and the people are supporting them.

How do you envision the future of this club with you being a part of this?

It’s already become a grand success, I would like to believe that this is just the beginning and it’s only going to get bigger from here, but it can only get bigger with more dedicated effort towards popularising football in India and providing a platform for youngsters who can realise their dreams and achieve them, and this is a fantastic platform.

The atmosphere over here, does this compare to any other particular cricket stadium that you’ve experienced?

What we’ve experienced inside cricket stadiums is what we’ve experienced here today and I have no doubt that people are going to turn out to support their team.