King’s Cup | I had a gut feeling that a call may happen, says Adil Khan

With Indian footballers getting ready for the King’s Cup, which is the first assignment for the newly-appointed coach, Adil Khan is back in the reckoning for the national team. This is a fresh change for the midfielder who represented FC Pune City and had a decent outing in the Indian Super League’s last season. For the first time since 2012, Adil has received a call from the national camp and he has mentioned that he had a gut feeling of getting a call again.

“I had a gut feeling that a call may happen. I was following Igor Stimac and realised that he is more of a defensive-oriented coach. I was hoping my name would be in that list. When it happened, I was surprised, to be honest,” Adil told Sportsstar.

“I don’t know (what is expected off me). I will need time to understand what the coach wants. Everything is new now; new coach, new thinking. I will join the camp and take it up from there.”

Adil was dropped from the national team in 2012 and never got a callback from the previous head coach Stephen Constantine. The midfielder was under the impression that Constantine wanted to try out younger players in the team.

“I was under the impression that he wanted to try out younger players. The coach had watched games when I played for Churchill Brothers in the defence and later after signing for Pune City, he was aware of my performances as per the team needs, in different positions. Selection is the coach’s choice. I did not get an opportunity then, now the opportunity has come,” Adil said.

When asked about which coach had an impact on his career, Adil replied, “I don’t have any favourite coach. Phil Brown, Ranko Popovic, Derrick Pereira understood each player’s strong point and what he could bring to the team."