India’s got talent: MI’s unheralded spinner Vignesh Puthur makes impact on debut
Mumbai, Mar 24 (PTI) Plucked out of a state league with no experience of first-class cricket, 24-year-old spinner Vignesh Puthur lived a dream as he snared three wickets on debut for the Mumbai Indians and even though it wasn’t enough to ensure victory, the student of English literature seems ready for the big stage.
It wasn’t just his skills that made everyone take notice of the bowler from Kerala’s Malappuram, whose father is an auto-rickshaw driver and mother a home-maker. He had quite a moment when Chennai Super Kings stalwart Mahendra Singh Dhoni put his hand on his shoulders to laud his performance.
He earned that appreciation for dismissing CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shivam Dube, and Deepak Hooda for figures of 3/32 in four overs as an impact player.
“I never thought in my life that I would play with all these players,” a smiling Puthur said addressing his star-studded dressing room after being presented the best bowler’s badge in the team’s in-house post-match honours.
With him, MI seem to have have unearthed yet another unheralded talent like Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya, also discovered from the far-reaches, thanks to a robust scouting system.
The team, however, began yet another IPL with a defeat even though the loss on Sunday had a silver lining with Puthur making his presence felt against a storied side like the CSK.
Puthur is currently pursuing MA in English Literature from PTM Govt College Perinthalmanna in the Calicut University.
He hasn’t yet played First-Class cricket apart from a brief stint in the Kerala Cricket League and in the Tamil Nadu Premier League, but his talent was enough for MI to bring him on board.
The nurturing began immediately after Puthur joined the camp a few months ago. From interacting with the coaches to accessing the training facilities as well as working with analytics and data, his cricket journey took flight and Puthur soaked it all in.
“We never expected him to play in the first match itself. We are so happy. We never even thought he will get an IPL contract. Now, a lot of people are calling us to congratulate, and hopefully he will live up to everybody’s expectations,” said Sunil Kumar, his father.
Puthur’s mother Bindu was equally delighted.
“He had called up last evening saying there was a chance for me to play tonight. We were watching every ball last night, and this was his performance. He called us around 12.30 am last night after the match and then again he called after an hour.
“He was so happy. I have never seen him so happy. We also could not sleep because of happiness.”
Puthur’s childhood coach Vijayan, who has worked with renowned Mumbai coach Vasu Paranjpe, expects him rise high.
“(He is) a very disciplined kid, and he worked hard on his a tough craft like left-arm wrist spin.”
When asked about the potential that MI saw in the left-arm spinner, the team’s bowling coach Paras Mhambrey said, “The idea at MI is always seeing the potential more than anything else, and when we saw him for one of our trials.”
Puthur attended MI’s selection trials in November ahead of the mega auction and after he was picked for a base price of Rs 30 lakh, he was sent to be around the MI Cape Town team which won the SA20 tournament.
He spent around a month bowling in the nets alongside MI Cape Town skipper Rashid Khan, while bowling coach Lasith Malinga also kept an eye on the young spinner and the two developed a bond.
Back from a successful stint, it was now time to impress the big names and Puthur did exactly that.
“When Rohit (Sharma) and Surya and Tilak (Varma), all these guys batted against him, they felt it wasn’t that easy, so (that was) one of the reasons we felt we had the confidence of pushing him in this game,” Mhambrey said.
“Yes, he spins the ball, (he is) pretty consistent, lands the ball on pretty much what (areas) we wanted, he is pretty accurate with it. Those are the tick marks that we look into,” the former India pacer added.
‘Can hold his own against big names’
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Mhambrey is particularly impressed with Puthur’s confident persona.
“(It is) never easy — (the) first game against CSK — it’s a big game. But purely the way he responded, hats off to him,” he told the media after the match on Sunday night.
“He was able to hold his nerves and handle pressure superbly, (he) really got us in the game. Very happy about his performance,” he added.
“Amazing, MI is known for that — giving youngsters opportunities, the scouts do this for 10 months and he (Vignesh) is a product of that,” said MI’s stand-in skipper and India T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav after the match.
