For India’s centre-back Sandesh Jhingan, the wait to play for the national team has been a bitter-sweet memory. Injuries always were a hindrance for Jhingan, but that did not deter him from making it to the squad. He always backed himself to make the cut since the past two years and currently finds himself in the squad to face Puerto Rico in a friendly in Mumbai on September 3.

"Of course, I am happy to be with the national team," the 23-year-old told Scroll.in. "It is a dream for any footballer to play for the country. I would say that I am still a work-in-progress and will be till the end of my career. You have to keep learning. Getting injured is a difficulty of course like last year. However, there are two sides to a coin and I look at the positive side and I have learned through it."

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Jhingan made his debut in 2015 against Nepal, but has finally become a consistent performer for the squad since the turn of the year. He scored his first goal against Turkmenistan in March and his second against Laos in June, where India beat them 6-1 in the 2019 Asian Cup qualifiers.

The physical aspect

A versatile defender, Jhingan is known to be ruthless if required and doesn’t mind tasting his own blood once in a while. "For a defender, the physical aspect is very important," he said. "I like being physical and dirty in the game. I like the elbows and don’t mind the blood spilling out. It’s part of the game and I always take passion when I wear the national jersey. I enjoy doing the dirty work for the game."

The Chandigarh-born lad is open to play wherever the team needs him to. “For the national team, I only play as a centre-back, but I am willing to play in any other position if my team wants me to play. Left-back or right-back, I am happy with any position. I am willing to help them,” he said.

Hoping for a good result

However, with the Puerto Rico clash on Saturday, Jhingan is focused for the big test awaiting Indian football. “We have been preparing for this game for a while now. We had a camp in Delhi at the start of this month and then we played Bhutan as well. So it is an important game for us. Puerto Rico is a good team. It will be a good contest and we will learn something from them and they from us. It will be a good show. Hopefully, we will play to our strengths and we might get a good result,” said Jhingan, who plays for the Kerala Blasters in the Indian Super League.

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With Puerto Rico ranked 114th in the world, India, who are 152nd, have their work cut out for them. But they can take the aggression portrayed against Bhutan recently where they beat them 3-0. “Any game helps you whether it is Bhutan or Iran. Every game has its own importance. It is just that we need to keep improving and we are improving a lot as a team, and I am optimistic about this game. It’s part of us building steps for the 2019 Asian Cup UAE qualifiers, which kick-off next year [in March]. We can improve after this game as well,” said Jhingan.

Playing with 'Arjunas'

With Subrata Paul being honoured with the Arjuna award, Jhingan congratulated India’s ace goalkeeper. “I am really happy that Subrata paaji has received the Arjuna Award. He deserves it more than anyone else. He has been such a loyal servant to the national team. For all of us who are new to the team, it’s a great motivating factor as now we have an ‘Arjuna’ among us,” he said. Besides Paul, captain Sunil Chhetri had also won the award in 2011.

Jhingan is said to be the fastest man in the Indian football team according to fitness coach Danny Deigan. “I paid him to say that,” said Jhingan, laughing. However, he added, “But I always get help from Deigan who has helped me improve physically. Danny is a top guy. Even when the camp is not on, you just send him a text message and he responds immediately. He is always there to guide us,” said the defender, who will leave for Kochi to be a part of his ISL squad once the Puerto Rico game is done and dusted with on Saturday.