Himachal Pradesh football Association wishes Vishal Kaith a very happy birthday on this day pride & inspiration of Himachal Pradesh, May god bless you with the healthy, wealthy  prosperity in your life. The 21-year-old keeper, who has represented the Indian national team in various age groups, peaked in form as the season progressed and produced some crucial saves to keep the team from Pune in the battle for a play-off spot.

But the story of Vishal Kaith would have been drastically different had it not been for a few individuals in his life. “I didn’t know a lot about goalkeeping when I went to the Sports Hostel,” says Kaith, who was more fond of playing cricket and boxing in his younger days in Himachal Pradesh. “I didn’t even know I will be a goalkeeper when I went there. It was the last year for the Hostel’s goalkeeper because he was about to graduate. There was no keeper, so the coach there, Vikram Panda, he saw my height and asked me to keep for a few days. So I started keeping and I think he saw something in me and made me a goalkeeper,” he adds.

Kaith has progressed remarkably from the ‘tall boy who could keep’ to becoming the first choice goalkeeper for an ISL side, and is slowly becoming a stable member of coach Stephen Constantine’s Indian football team. Though he might still be far away from replacing Gurpreet Singh as the last man of defence, the future is bright for the lanky footballer from the hills.