Chennai City's Ajith Kumar hopeful of top-four finish in I-League

Despite the struggles in the ongoing I-League season, Chennai City left-back Ajith Kumar is looking forward to the club's first appearance in the AFC Cup.

Chennai City's Ajith Kumar has been among the mainstays in the side in the last two seasons.

In the midst of a busy I-League campaign, Chennai City FC is braving up for a new and bigger challenge in the form of its maiden AFC Cup stint.

Pitted in Group-E, Chennai City is playing its first match against Maziya S&R (Maldives) at the Nehru Stadium here on Wednesday.

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One of the main-stays, left-back Ajith Kumar is looking forward to competing in the tournament, which Chennai City was assured as a result of winning the I-League last year.

City will play three home and three away matches in the group stages that has sides such as Bashundhara Kings (Bangladesh), Maziya Sports & Recreation (Maldives) and TC Sports Club (Maldives).

“It is a much bigger competition. For us, there will be more local (from Tamil Nadu) players as usual. It is a big opportunity for us. I would like to thank the City management for placing its trust in me,” said the 23-year-old.

Ajith said he doesn’t want to predict how the team will fare in the AFC Cup, while adding that the team would like to take it match-by-match. “We want to do well. The opponent teams are strong and experienced,” he said.

Currently placed seventh on the table, with 20 points from 15 matches, Ajith said it is difficult to point out what went wrong in the I-League. “We are playing well, but are not getting the results. Against Mohun Bagan, we played well at home only to lose [2-3]. We still have few more matches [I-League] and we still can possibly finish in the top four,” he reasoned.