ISL 2020-21: Which teams dominated the statistics? Gameweek 1 — By the numbers

The first round of games in this season’s Indian Super League (ISL) is over and all of the matches have thrown up myriad topics for discussion. From Roy Krishna scoring the first ever ISL goal for ATK Mohun Bagan FC on the first night to Anirudh Thapa scoring the fastest goal of the season yesterday, we take a look at the most interesting facts surrounding the first few games of this year’s competition.

• 3 of the first 5 matches had a 1-0 scoreline, underlining the fact that teams are setting up cautiously as they try to regain full match fitness. This isn’t to say that there has been any lack of effort, what with the physical nature of all the games we’ve had till now. Chennaiyin FC have committed the most number of fouls, with 20 in just a single match. They are followed by Odisha FC and Hyderabad FC with 19 and 17 respectively. In fact, the match between the latter two saw the highest number of fouls till now this season (36).
• As is common knowledge now, Roy Krishna’s goal against Kerala Blasters was the first goal for the merged entity that is ATK Mohun Bagan in the ISL, marking the start of a new chapter for the Mariners. Apart from that, with this goal, he has scored or assisted against every team he has faced in the league.
• Mumbai City FC did not manage to get a single shot on target in their match against NorthEast United. In fact, this was the first time that a Sergio Lobera side failed to register a shot on target in the ISL. This, despite the Islanders making the highest number of passes for any team in their first match (576). Sarthak Golui leads the chart in the team with Rowlin Borges and Hugo Boumous close behind. In typical Lobera style, the team also registered the highest number of touches (701) ahead of FC Goa and Kerala Blasters. However, his former protege at FC Goa, Edu Bedia, is the player with the most number of touches and passes with 100 and 89 respectively.

  Mumbai City's Hugo Boumous takes on NorthEast United players (Source: ISL)

• Elsewhere, Kerala Blasters lead the charts for most dribbles, successful and otherwise. They attempted 19 dribbles in the match against ATK Mohun Bagan out of which 10 were successful. NorthEast United and Mumbai City come second with 7 successful dribbles each although NorthEast attempted 14 whereas Mumbai attempted 11.
• Anirudh Thapa’s goal against Jamshedpur FC on 52 seconds was the fastest goal of this season till now as well as in Chennaiyin FC’s history. It was also the 4th fastest in the history of the ISL. The Marina Machans also top the table in terms of the number of tackles that their players put in against Jamshedpur FC (45). Deepak Tangri had the most within the team with 9 followed by Reagan Singh who had 8. Reagan Singh also has the most number of interceptions with 6, followed by Ashutosh Mehta, Sarthak Golui and Lalengmawia (4).
• Bengaluru’s game against FC Goa was just the second time the Blues have dropped points after going two goals up in a match. The only other time this happened was last season in their 2-2 draw against the erstwhile ATK.
• Hyderabad FC registered the most shots in the first round of matches with 18 in their 1-0 victory against Odisha FC. Goalscorer Aridane Samtana had the highest with 6. Chennaiyin FC is a distant second on this list with 12, followed by Mumbai City FC, Bengaluru FC and Kerala Blasters with 9 each.

*Note: Updated till Jamshepdur FC vs Chennaiyin FC game on Tuesday, 24th November.