"The inaugural edition of eISL was a massive step in promoting the FIFA esports scene in India": Hyderabad FC player Darvesh Khera

sportskeeda.com:

Over two months have passed since eISL, India's biggest FIFA tournament so far, came to a conclusion. While the tournament has already increased the popularity of the competitive side of the game, this is just the start of the FIFA esports revolution in the country.

Delhi-based pro player Darvesh Khera was part of Hyderabad FC's roster in the eISL. Although his side couldn't reach the playoffs, the 22-year-old bounced back tremendously by winning the Flash Cup India Open soon after eISL ended.

In conversation with Sportskeeda Esports' Yasho Amonkar, Darvesh sheds light on his journey so far, lists down three factors that separate pros from casuals, and gives his two cents on how FIFA can potentially attract a larger audience in India.

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Darvesh: My FIFA journey started in 2010 when I got the game on PSP. I used to play a lot of career mode, but that didn't last very long, and I didn't get the next edition of FIFA on PSP. The next FIFA which I got was FIFA 13 on PS3. This was when I started playing Ultimate Team.

I fell in love with the mode, the concept of making your team, managing chemistry between players, and having top players from different clubs in your team. It was all very exciting for me. I was good at making my team, but I used to be bad at the game. I would get thrashed in every online game, but it was a lot of fun playing and improving my team, so I didn't stop playing.

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Fast forward to FIFA 16, where I played my first tournament. It was a GamingMonk tournament with a prize pool of 1 lakh INR. I lost in the third round, but I realized that I would love to improve and compete.

I started grinding the game, watched pros on YouTube, and went entirely crazy