New Delhi: Amrinder Singh has been a mainstay between the sticks for Mumbai City FC, whose fans rarely miss an opportunity on social media to make a case for him to be India's number one goalkeeper whenever Gurpreet Singh Sandhu has a bad day. It is a situation that a number of great goalkeepers have found themselves in where they are a regular for their respective clubs and considered among the best in the world but find themselves on the bench for their international sides.
Amrinder says that neither does he think of himself as a backup keeper in the run-up to an international match, nor do he and Sandhu see each other as rivals.
"I never think that I am the backup goalkeeper and prepare for every match hoping to do my best," Amrinder told IANS. "I do want Gurpreet to do well too and we always help each other improve on all the little mistakes that crop up during training. I never go into a match thinking that I have to sit outside, I always work hard so as to ensure that I stay in contention for a starting spot," he said.
Additionally, he feels that him keeping up that attitude will also keep Sandhu on his toes. "Even Gurpreet should not feel like he is the only person working hard. There is someone behind him who is working just as much. I think it is good for both of us that we work as much as possible," he said.
Amrinder's senior career started at the age of 18 with the erstwhile Pune FC. He admits that he was lucky to have started playing for a senior club side despite having made the switch to goalkeeper only three years prior to that.
Amrinder was around 16 years old when he started playing as a goalkeeper in Punjab, before which he played all the way down at the other end of the pitch as a striker.
"I was playing for an U-17 team and my coach Yarvinder Singh asked me to play once as a goalkeeper. My main aim at the time was to never sit out a match and be in the playing XI as much as possible.
"By the time I joined Pune I had about three years experience as a goalkeeper. I feel I am very lucky that I managed to break into a professional club as a goalkeeper despite only having played as one for three years."
The demands of the modern day game are such that goalkeepers are expected to be comfortable with the ball on their feet and Amrinder feels that playing as a striker in his teenage years has helped him on that front.
"Of course it helped. I had to use my feet a lot as a striker, it gives me confidence on my footwork now. I feel that makes me a better goalkeeper. Today goalkeepers are required to be good with their feet also and so it has certainly helped me in my career," he said.
Amrinder first left Pune in the 2015/16 season on loan to Bengaluru FC, the team that had made waves a season ago by winning the I-League on debut. That year, he was named the best goalkeeper in the league as Bengaluru won their second title and reached the quarter final of the AFC Cup. The move was made permanent next season, in which they finished only fourth in the I-League but became the first Indian team to qualify for the final of the AFC Cup, where they lost to Iraq's Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya.
Amrinder said that among other things, picking the brains of Bengaluru and India's talismanic skipper Sunil Chhetri was a highlight of his time at the club.
"My time at Bengaluru was very good for me," he said. "Sunil bhai was there, he is one of the greatest strikers of all time and I used to interact a lot with him. He spoke with me a lot in understanding how a striker thinks in one on one situations or when they take long shots and so on. I was with a good team there and I have some great memories with them," he said.
For now, he is happy with Mumbai, who are right in the middle of a race to the last playoff spot in the ongoing season of the Indian Super League (ISL). "There is a real family atmosphere around the team whenever we train," says Amrinder.
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