They aren’t celebrating in Vishakhapatnam yet but maybe they will in a few weeks, when Vikash Dhorasoo’s international career finally gets set to take off. The French midfielder has so long lived in the shadows of Zinedine Zidane—they play the same role for the French team—but Zizou’s retirement after the World Cup opens the way for him.

In fact, he’s already created history, becoming the first footballer of Indian origin to play at this level by turning out against Switzerland last week. ‘‘He told me it was a very special feeling,’’ his mother Nalinee told The Indian Express from Paris, where the family lives.

Though Dhorasoo himself has never spoken too emphatically about his Indian roots, saying only that he would like to go to India but ‘‘not as a tourist,’’ his mother had no such qualms. ‘‘We originally come from V-sha-ka-pat-nam,’’ she said, spelling out the word with a heavy French accent. ‘‘My grandparents lived in Andhra Pradesh.’’ They were taken to Mauritius to work on the sugar plantations, and that’s where Nalinee met Vikash’s father Manduth who worked as a plumber on the Britannia Sugar Estate.

The family moved to France in 1970, where Vikash was born three years later. His childhood was spent in Le Havre, Normandy, and he grew up in a neighbourhood called Caucriauville where he learnt the sport on the spaces available between buildings. ‘‘He was, I think, about nine when he went to play organised football, though studies was equally important,’’ Nalinee said.

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