Awaiting debut, Hamza Choudhury is already Bangladesh’s darling

White ear buds visible through the neatly pruned Afro, Hamza Choudhury entered the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium here acknowledging greetings from the Bangladesh media contingent that has turned up in big numbers here on Monday. The conditions in Shillong would be more like Leicester, which he calls home, than Snanghat, the town in Sylhet his father does. Rubbing his hands and in a No.8 shirt, Choudhary went through the team's warm-up routine.

With his Premier League and Championship lineage, Choudhary has given Bangladesh's football the kind of fillip they had not thought was possible till the 27-year-old defensive midfielder took up citizenship. In a country where international football usually means deep divisions between supporters of Brazil and Argentina, with numbers for the latter swelling to a point that it was acknowledged by Lionel Scaloni during the 2022 World Cup, Choudhary has suddenly become a shining light. A player who has given Bangladesh hope.

"We didn't know he would become a professional footballer, there was no pressure on him to be one. But he has shown that if you believe in what you want to do, you can achieve your goal," Choudhury's mother Rafia, on her first visit to India, said speaking to a group of journalists after Bangladesh wrapped up training.

"When Hamza started out, there were nearly no Asian players at the Leicester City academy. Now, there are a number of them. Less than one per cent of academy players get a professional contract. He has opened doors."

His presence is good for football in Asia, said India head coach Manolo Marquez. "It will motivate his teammates." Jamal Bhuyan agreed. "Hamza is a big boost for us," said the Bangladesh skipper.

Like he had said when the teams met in Kolkata in 2019, Bhuyan said the standard of Indian Super League (ISL) is higher than that of Bangladesh Football Premier League. But given that, according to Bhuyan, the gap in ability between domestic players in both leagues is not much, Choudhury can make a difference.

Question is: will one week with the Bangladesh team be enough. Which is why Marquez said he was not sure how much impact Choudhary, who has played eight times for Sheffield United who are second in The Championship, England's second tier, may have on Tuesday. It is also not known how he will deal with a nation turning its lonely eyes to him.

In Shillong with her husband, Murshed Dewan, Rafia accepted that there would be pressure on their son. "Hamza has a strong mind. May Almighty give him the courage to carry the torch," she said. "Never in our dreams did we think this would happen."

Apart from Choudhary, Bhuyan, who is from Denmark, Tarek Kazi from Finland and Canadian Syed Quazem are players in the squad here who were not born in Bangladesh. Using naturalized players is common in international football but not in India which does not allow dual citizenship.

Asked if, like Indonesia, that would be the way forward for Bangladesh, their head coach Javier Cabrera urged caution. "Bangladesh need to be careful about this. There will be a lot of hype and expectation on such players but they will need to blend with the local culture in the way Bhuyan, Kazi and Quazem have," he said.

What the Spaniard said was borne out by Indonesia's 1-5 defeat to Australia on Thursday. Since Eric Thohir, the former Inter Milan owner, became the football federation's president, Indonesia have tapped into the diaspora. It has led to the former Dutch colony filling the men's national team with players born in the Netherlands. Indonesia even replaced the successful South Korean coach Shin Tae-yong with former Holland international Patrick Kluivert whose first match was the 2026 third round World Cup qualifier against Australia.

Former Netherlands international Jordi Cruyff is now the team's technical adviser. Ranked 127th, one rung below India, Indonesia are fourth in the group behind Japan, who have already qualified for the 2026 finals, Australia and Saudi Arabia on six points from seven matches. Suddenly, the road to the 2026 finals looks a lot bumpier than before but it is difficult to believe that Indonesia would have come this far without players born overseas.