The Malayali Behind India's Tactics: Meet P G Vignesh

Do you know how Vini jr or Darwin Nunez will act in a 1v1 situation with Anwar or Abhi Mitei? Like this there are many questions that need a perfect solution before going to face these Superstars of the game, and to solve this puzzle, there’s a Malayali sitting close to the Coach with a laptop in his lap and lots of information which eventually helps Indian football to grow. P G Vignesh from Palakkad is the analyst for the Indian national team. The 31-year-old is the man who along with his team breaks down opponents and hands the staff the tactics and precautions for the big games, including Brazil, Uruguay and Panama. He’s like the third eye of Coach Khalid Jamil, who follows every minute details of the players whether it is the opponent or his own team and shares with the coach for betterment. He has held this role since Khalid took charge last year. Vignesh’s route to the national team is far from the usual one. Born in Kongad, Palakkad, he loved football but was also good in the classroom, and engineering was where he wanted to be. He studied at VIT University in Vellore and worked in Bengaluru after graduating. Somewhere along the way he accepted he wouldn’t make it as a player, and the ambition shifted to coaching. So he hung up the engineer’s shirt and earned his AIFF B License. What began as coaching turned into analysis, first at NorthEast United,where he worked alongside Khalid Jamil. That partnership carried over to the national team, and the bond shows in how much Khalid trusts his views today. For the last SIX years he has been the Head of Analyst at the Reliance Foundation Young Champs Academy. It’s a nice reminder that not everyone shaping Indian football’s best run in years is on the pitch. And with the Panama draw in the books, the work for Brazil and Uruguay is already underway.