Baichung Bhutia as a defender!

Baichung Bhutia has donned many roles over the years on and off the field, but he did a first today when he played as a central defender for his own club United Sikkim FC in their opening 2nd Division I-League final round match against Sporting Clube de Goa.

But this idea didn't come out of the blue as Baichung had been playing as centre-back in training for a few weeks while the team was preparing itself for the 2nd Division. Upfront USFC have options, but at the back they looked a little weak especially at the heart of defence, so the star striker took on the task himself to stuff that hole and did quite well.

After playing for about 80 minutes Baichung was quite happy and said, "I'm comfortable in my new role – as a defender, but I need to reach peak fitness at the earliest. And I didn't do badly either. I was able to keep the two rival foreign strikers quiet."

And Baichung did play with someone with whom he has played at club and country before in N.S. Manju who praised his new partner, "It's quite exciting to play with Baichung and mind you, he has a great sense of anticipation."

While coach Stanley Rozario was a happy man after having discovered a new defensive talent, "He needs to be applauded. After playing as a striker for more than 17 years in the top tier, the manner in which he played like a matured defender deserves praise."