VP Suhair scores hattrick on East Bengal debut, receives call from idol I M Vijayan

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Bengaluru, August 13: On Saturday (Augut 12) he inscribed his name beside the legends like Shyam Thapa and Asim Moulik by scoring hat trick in his debut in the Kolkata Premier Football League with East Bengal. The red-and gold brigade humbled weak Rainbow FC 5-1 at home.

He is Suhair VP. The striker from Kerala had already impressive season with United Sports last season. His hat-trick against George Telegraph in the Kolkata Premier League as well as goals in other matches, scored consistently guided the striker to make a move to East Bengal.

Trevor Morgan was the coach of red-gold brigades during that time. He completely ignored the Kerala striker and did not field him in a single match. Suhair had to leave East Bengal and then again he was brought back by the team's current coach Khalid Jamil.

After the end of the match, when the 27-year old striker was leaving the club he received the most desired phone call. That was from his childhood idol, I M Vijayan.

The former Indian skipper and legendary striker called up Suhair and blessed him saying, "Congratulations! You will be able to keep the name of our state on high by scoring more goals!"

Suhair was simply spellbound. Even took minutes to spell out that what he heard from his childhood dream.

The striker said, "Since I hit football in our village ground at Palakkade in the youth Vijayan has been my idol. I became speechless after watching his mesmerizing skill with ball."

"But the interesting thing is that, I got only one opportunity to meet him. He once came to our Kozhikode University after we became inter University football champion. On that day I only did not take his autograph, but also got his valuable tips on the game."

"Practically I had written all his messages after returning home and I still preserve that. I could not simply think that he would call me today."