But the 31-year-old defender also swears by his defending skills and after spending a decade with JCT, he wants his work to speak for itself rather than him talking about it.

The senior-most among the current crop of throw-in experts (Uttam Singh, Dhanchandra Singh from Air-India, Naobo Singh from Churchill Brothers) Daljit says, “I always wanted to be a football player as the sport was in the family and my cousin Jasbir Singh, who used to play for BSF, was quite an influence. He was my idol in long throw-ins.” He still remembers the practice he used to do on the fields with his cousin after school.

But he stresses that his ability has been the culmination of hard work. “I feel that executing long throw-ins is an art that has to be nurtured.” But after practicing it for ten long years the JCT defender says, “I no longer practice to throw further, the maximum I have reached is near the penalty area from the touchline. Nowadays I do it just for a few minutes before the match.”

The art gave him fame all over Punjab and says, “Right from my playing days in the villages, a lot of people knew me for my long throw-ins. I still remember people used to point fingers towards me and spot me. But these days, I feel it is very common to see throw-in experts.”

Daljit points out that it is no more a novelty and every team in the I-league has one player who has a long throw-in. But he quickly adds, “The art will always be an asset and will never go out of vogue.”

Among the current bunch Daljit is highly impressed with Uttam Singh of Air-India and says, “It reminds me of the old days when I used to compete against Naushad Moosa, again from Air-India to throw further.”