The Indian football dressing room must soon get accustomed to English with a Western Australian twang. Indian ancestry has taken Ryan Williams, the winger from the Perth suburb of Subiaco, to India’s national side — after relinquishing his Australian passport. This is not the first time the country, ranked 136th in the world, has looked beyond its borders to address its dwindling stock of quality footballers. A decade ago, Arata Izumi, whose father was from Gujarat, wore the India colours, but with negligible success. But this could be the way forward, as India seeks to move up the footballing ladder after inhabiting the lower echelons for decades.

Even powerhouses such as Spain and Italy have used the strategy to strengthen their national squads. The recent instance of success has been C

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