Can ATK Mohun Bagan's Pritam Kotal, Jayesh Rane and Prabir Das win a record third ISL title?

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The ATK Mohun Bagan Indian trio have the golden opportunity to win their third ISL title...

In a bid to win their maiden Indian Super League (ISL) title in their debut season, ATK Mohun Bagan will lock horns against Mumbai City FC in the final on Saturday.

It has been a dream debut for the Mariners who joined India's top tier league this season after merging with three times ISL champions ATK and they are just a step away from making their maiden campaign a memorable one.

While a win in the final will be special for the entire team, it will be extra special for three ATK Mohun Bagan players Pritam Kotal, Jayesh Rane and Prabir Das as it will be their third ISL title, most by any player in the league.

Pritam Kotal and Prabir Das were an integral part of the title-winning squad of ATK in 2016. The Kolkata-based side had won the title under the leadership of Jose Francisco Molina. Both Kotal and Das appeared in 12 matches each in that season.

The Bengali duo then won their second honour last season as ATK bagged their third league title beating Chennaiyin FC in the final. While Kotal appeared in all the 22 games last year, Das played in 21 matches. Kotal had scored one goal in the season and Das had provided five assists.

Jayesh Rane won his first ISL title with Chennaiyin FC in 2015 under the tutelage of legendary Italian footballer Marco Materazzi. He then bagged his second league title last season while playing for ATK. While at Chennaiyin, the Mumbai-based midfielder had played just seven matches, last season at ATK he played a total of 18 games.

2020-21 has been a good season for Kotal performance-wise as he has been a mainstay in the defence and his stats are good too - he made 15 crosses, 71 tackles, 34 interceptions and 149 clearances. He is the only ATK Mohun Bagan player other than custodian Arindam Bhattacharya who has played in every single game this season. The full-back also scored a goal in the team's penultimate league stage tie against Hyderabad FC. His goal in the dying moments of the match helped Bagan to manage at least a point from the clash.

There are quite a few players like Jeje Lapekhlua, Harmanjot Khabra, Fikru Teferra, Balwant Singh, Dhanapal Ganesh and Apoula Edel Bete who have won the ISL title twice but they arent any player in the history of the league who have won the title thrice and hence the Mariners trio are aiming at scripting history.

2021-03-12 10:00:05

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