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The Indian Super League has brought fans on their feet by producing some intriguing contests over the years.
The likes of Marco Materazzi, Alessandro Del Piero, David Trezeguet, Nicolas Anelka and Diego Forlan have played against each other in this competition which makes this tournament even more piquant.
From Mohammed Rafique scoring an injury-time winner to Stiven Mendoza netting on a couple of occasions in the stoppage time to lift this prestigious trophy, the fans over India have seen plenty of eye-catching moments in critical moments and biggest stages.
Additionally, there have been numerous single-handed performance this campaign which has carried the team to register victories.
In this piece, we shall look at the five rich battles between the players from either of their sides this season.
#5 Bartholomew Ogbeche (NorthEast United FC) vs Mailson Alves (Chennaiyin FC)
The skippers of their respective sides Mailson Alves and Bartholomew Ogbeche went head-to-head when the reigning Champions played NorthEast United FC at the Marina Arena on 18th October.
Thoi Singh scored twice, but it was the away side led by the impressive Ogbeche who scored a hat-trick to secure all three points.
The striker Ogbeche was too quick, too good for the whole Chennaiyin FC defence which included the skipper Mailson.
The Brazilian lost this battle, and could not find the better of the 34-year-old Skipper who scored three goals within 10 minutes to regain parity for the Highlanders in the first half.
Rowlin Borges netted the winner in the second half to complete an extraordinary turn around to secure the lead for the first time and all three points to win the game.
The Chennaiyin FC skipper was struggling to cope up with the attackers of NorthEast United FC and was all over the place which forced coach John Gregory to make an early attacking switch to substitute in Orlandi.
The foreigner's rule did come into play, but it is safe to say that Mailson has not reached the heights he hit last season in the first five games. On the other hand, Ogbeche has been the talisman for the Highlanders up front to score 6 goals from just 5 games.
#4 John Johnson (ATK) vs Erik Paartalu (Bengaluru FC)
This turned out to be the battle between two old friends. John Johnson, who spent five years at Kanteerava Stadium decided to join the two-time Champions ATK last summer in a lucrative deal.
The towering English defender has improved ATK's back line which has gone on to concede eight goals from six games, which is comparatively fine, considering the leaky defence last campaign. The Australian Erik Partaalu has been a revelation since joining the Blues last season.
Harmanjot Khabra and Partaalu were the two defensive midfielders for Bengaluru FC. On the other hand, John Johnson was partnered by Gerson Viera in the central defense department. It was an even-steven contest and the Bengaluru counterpart was the one to have won this battle.
The Australian not only got into the scoresheet, but his savoir-faire spoke with his all-around game which made life really tough for John Johnson and the hosts.
He was winning every duel in the middle of the park to unsettle the opposition and the Blues defenders were able to breathe easily with his presence.
The match was evenly poised because ATK had only a few chances to level the score in the second half.
In the end, the away side were the victors, kudos to fantastic strikes from Miku and Erik Paartalu which cancelled out an exquisite strike from the 18-year-old Komal Thatal.
#3 Ferran Corominas (FC Goa) vs Matt Mills (FC Pune City)
FC Goa beat Pune City 4-2 who are in an affray to grind out results this season. The talisman Ferran Corominas, Hugo Boumous and Jakichand Singh combined to score four times, whereas, Pune scored twice with goals coming from Marcelinho and Emiliano Alfaro within the first half. There were no score alterations in the second part of the game.
The FC Goa striker had a great eye of goal and scored twice from the two shots he took throughout the game.
Just when Marcelinho steamed Pune into the game, Matt Mills played Corominas on side, which lead to an easy tap-in from Jakichand Singh.
Mills struggled to find his feet and it is no surprise that Corominas was able to find the back of the net on a couple of occasions against the side which has been shambles at the back.
FC Pune City have made a poor start to this season which saw Miguel Angel Portugal get the sack after a series of lamentable results.
Pradhyum Reddy has taken charge of the club, but he is yet to create an impact.
#2 Raphael Augusto (Chennaiyin FC) vs Pronay Halder (ATK)
ATK welcomed Chennaiyin FC to the Salt Lake Stadium on 26th October. The home side edged the reigning champions to beat them 2-1 at their home backyard.
Kalu Uche and John Johnson gave the hosts a two-goal lead, but Carlos Salom netted one for the Blues before the halftime which proved to be a consolation.
The Blues had several chances to get into the scoresheet, but failure to find the back of the net in the second half forced them to take nothing from the game.
The English coaches John Gregory and Steve Coppell adopted the same formation with 4-2-3-1 which sees Raphael Augusto and Pronay Halder playing in midfield with a more defensive minded role to shield the back four.
The Brazilian won the battle and was the best player on the pitch for the Blues that night.
Raphael Augusto was able to claim 11 duels which made the opponents work hard to grind out this result.
On the other hand, Halder did not create any sort of impact for Steve Coppell's side and struggled to tussle out the Chennaiyin FC midfielder.
#1 Sandesh Jhingan (Kerala Blasters FC) Vs Tim Cahill (Jamshedpur FC)
Jamshedpur FC were cruising with a two-goal lead going into the second half, but Kerala Blasters FC fought their way back through Slavisa Stojanovic and C.K.Vineeth to complete turnaround the game to earn a point away from home.
The Australian Tim Cahill started up front for the hosts and made it count by bagging a goal in the third minute of the game from a set-piece.
Skipper Sandesh Jhingan was neither a flop not a hit for Kerala. He was average in this game, but bailed Kerala out on a few occasions with some last-ditch tackling and winning duels to avoid any sort of limbo at the back. But, he should have done better by closing down Cahill and Soosairaj quicker than he did.
Neither of them won the battle as Cahill got the better out of the Kerala Blasters defender in the first half and Jhingan defended much better in the second half and stabilized the defense at the back which totally nullified the attack of Jamshedpur.
