Chennai, March 24 As Mumbai Indians defended a modest total of 156, they brought in a 24-year-old left-arm wrist spinner Vignesh Puthur as an Impact Substitute, handing a debut to the young player from Mallapuram in Kerala. Coming in for India captain Rohit Sharma, Puthur made his IPL debut even before playing senior representative cricket for his state as the five-time champions plucked him from nowhere to put him on the national stage, in front of millions of fans.
Puthur, whose father Sunil Kumar is an autorickshaw driver and mother K.P Bindu a homemaker, made an immediate impact, claiming 3-32 in his four-over spell. But more than the wickets, what impressed everyone was that Puthur was not afraid to give the ball flight and troubled seasoned batters with his control and variations.
A right-handed batter and a left-arm wrist spinner, Puthur is another of the young gems that Mumbai Indians have unearthed over the years, joining the likes of Saurabh Tiwary, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Tilak Varma etc. He is a spinner on the lines of Kuldeep Yadav and people at Mumbai Indians are confident in his talent and expect him to be a huge success just like Kuldeep.
On Sunday, Puthur claimed the wickets of CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad, getting him to lob a catch to long-on; Shivam Dube, holed out to the fielder near the straight boundary for nine, and Deepak Hooda, who failed to get elevation on a slog-sweep and was caught in the deep.
Puthur, who continued his pursuit of cricketing excellence despite financial constraints, moved from Malappuram to Thrissur chasing his dreams. Initially a medium pacer till college-level cricket, Puthur shifted to spin late in his development but found success soon.
He gained prominence while playing for St Thomas College in Thrissur, where he pursued a Master of Arts in Literature. His performances for the Alleppey Ripples in the inaugural edition of the Kerala Cricket League brought Puthur, who also played in the Tamil Nadu Premier League, into the spotlight.
It was during his stint in the Kerala Premier League that Puthur was noticed by Mumbai Indians' talent scouts. He was bought by MI in the IPL auction 2025 for Rs 30 lakh.
To aid his development as a bowler, Mumbai Indians had earlier this year sent Puthur to South Africa for the third season of SA20, where he served as a net bowler for MI Cape Town and had the opportunity to train with Rashid Khan, one of the finest wrist-spinners in T20 cricket.
Vignesh Puthur's performance on Sunday is testimony to the success of the talent scouting system of Mumbai Indians. Now both the franchise and Vignesh Puthur will have to do their utmost to build on the momentum and achieve more success.
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