Vignesh Puthur, the most recent addition to Mumbai Indians, made an outstanding IPL debut, claiming three wickets against Chennai Super Kings. Dismissing Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shivam Dube, and Deepak Hooda to record figures of 3/32 in four overs, the 24-year-old spinner was taken from a state league without first-class experience. MI lost the game despite his best attempts; nonetheless, his performance was outstanding.
From Malappuram into Mumbai Indians:
Mostly playing in the Kerala Cricket League and Tamil Nadu Premier League, Puthur is a student of English literature at PTM Govt College Perinthalmanna under Calicut University. He impressed in trials late November and was chosen for MI. He trained with MI Cape Town before the IPL season, closely working with Rashid Khan and Lasith Malinga.
Dhoni’s gesture and dress room recognition
The young spinner got a unique experience when Mahendra Singh Dhoni of CSK touched his shoulder to indicate his performance. MI’s post-match awards also included Puthur with the best bowler’s badge.
“I never thought in my life that I would play with all these players,” Puthur said to his dressing room colleagues.
Father, a driver of an auto-rickshaw, shows delight over the debut of his kid.
Sunil Kumar, his father, a driver of an auto-rickshaw, expressed delight over his son’s debut. “We never would have imagined him participating in the opening game itself. We are rather delighted. We never even considered he may be contractually IPL qualified. Many people are now calling us to congratulate; ideally, he will live up to everyone’s expectations.”
Bindu, his mother, experienced similar feelings. “He had told me last evening that I might be playing tonight. This is his performance; we watched every ball last night. After the game last night, he phoned us at 12.30 am; thereafter, he phoned once again after one hour. He seemed really delighted. I have never seen him in such delight. We also unable sleep because of our enjoyment.”
Vijayan, his boyhood coach, gave his discipline great marks. “(He is) a really disciplined child who put a lot of effort on a difficult craft like left-arm wrist spin.”
MI’s Scouting System Reveals Still Another Talent
The scouting strategy of Mumbai Indians has a track record of identifying gifted players like Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya. Bowling instructor Paras Mhambrey underlined the reasons MI trusted Puthur. “The idea at MI is always seeing the potential more than anything else, and when we seen him for one of our trials.”
Mhambrey further mentioned that MI’s key players—Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, and Tilak Varma—found him challenging on practice. “That was one of the reasons we felt we had confidence of pushing him in this game; Rohit and Surya and Tilak felt it wasn’t that easy, so.”