[caption id="attachment_27968" align="alignnone" width="580"]Kein Lewis 1 Mohun Bagan midfielder Kean Lewis with the Federation Cup. Image Source: facebook[/caption] Internet Desk: Kean Lewis – in many ways – is the face of the future of Indian football. The 24-year-old who hails from the cricket dominated state of Maharashtra has come a long way ever since making his debut for Federation Cup champions Mohun Bagan last season. Lewis etched his name on the record books yesterday by scoring the 400th goal in the Indian Super League (ISL).Delhi Dynamos’ new number eight has not only found the back of the net four times in the nine appearances that he had made but has also provided a couple of assists and innumerable key passes to establish himself as one of the most indispensable players of the Delhi-based ISL franchise. Kean Lewis’ most recent exploit came on Friday against FC Pune City when he became the highest scorer amongst the Indian footballers. Lewis has so far scored 4 goals in his debut season in ISL. Although Delhi Dynamos – valiantly – went down 4-3 to FC Pune City, Lewis caught the eyes of everyone with his quick burst of pace and nimble footwork. So much so, that Mohun Bagan head coach, Sanjoy Sen feels that the time has come when the Indian media should focus on Lewis’ heroics on the field. “I see the media constantly scrutinizing the likes of Katsumi Yusa and Sony Norde but turning a blind eye to Lewis’ performance. I feel it is time that we showcase the incredible talent of youngsters like Kean Lewis,” Sanjoy Sen told xtratime.in. “It is true that I have not started Kean Lewis on a number of occasions because I felt that his fresh pair of legs would benefit the side later on in a particular fixture but the way he has performed in this edition of the Hero ISL outclassing most of his Mohun Bagan colleagues – it is definitely worthy of praise,” Sen concluded. They say if you love what you do, you’re surely going to excel in that field. And the story of Lewis is no different. An impressive array of skill sets acted as a catalyst for a 14-year-old Kean Lewis when he bagged an invitation to appear for a trial at Leicester City’s youth academy in 2006. Although he failed to make an impact in England, Lewis didn’t give up on his dreams. He returned to India and joined Mahindra United before shifting to Tata Football Academy (TFA) back in 2008. After spending a couple of years in Jamshedpur, Lewis decided to shift to the United States of America in order to boost both his academic and footballing portfolio. In 2010, he earned a soccer scholarship at Fairleigh Dickinson University where he completed his degree while representing the university’s football team – the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights. Soon after graduation, the current Delhi Dynamos man who also represents Mohun Bagan at I-League, moved to Houston, Texas to join the U-23 side of Houston Dynamos. In spite of having – what many might say – an impressive portfolio, Kean Lewis was a relatively unknown footballer when he came to India in 2015 to trial with the erstwhile defending I-League champions, Mohun Bagan. And the rest – as they say – is history. The 5 feet 7-inch tall forward had to fight for his place in the First XI and his job wasn’t made easy by the presence of Katsumi Yusa and Sony Norde in the Mohun Bagan roster. Although Kean – still – has a fairly long way to go in his professional footballing career, his dominant form at the current edition of the Hero Indian Super League has forced a number of Indian pundits to tout the 24-year-old as the next big thing in Indian football. Having made six impressive appearances for Mohun Bagan over the course of the 2015-16 I-League season, Lewis was bagged by the Delhi Dynamos before the start of the third edition of Hero Indian Super League. Although a lot of people doubted the signing at the time, Lewis made sure that Gianluca Zambrotta’s trust doesn’t go in vain.

Mohun Bagan midfielder Kean Lewis enters record books in ISL