Mumbai Indians managed to put up a good fight against Chennai Super Kings in the high-stakes clash during the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. MI’s bet on newcomer Vignesh Puthur played well for the team, giving them a fighting chance against their opponents.
Puthur had never played a single domestic game before being featured in the playing XI yesterday. He was instrumental in taking 3 wickets. His maiden wicket was of CSK captain Ruturaj Gaikwad, which gave MI a nudge ahead. He later went on to take the wickets of Shivam Dube and Deepak Hooda with ease.
IPL 2025, CSK vs MI LIVE highlights
Many were impressed with the young debutant’s performance yesterday. Described as a breath of “fresh air” by Varun Aaron, Vignesh hadn’t played a single domestic game before featuring in MI’s playing XI.
The 23-year-old left-arm wrist spinner from Malappuram was bought for ₹30 lakh by Mumbai Indians. Vignesh had the least credentials among Kerala cricketers registered for the auction. He has never represented Kerala at the senior level, though he has played for the State in the under-14 and under-19 categories. It was his stint with Alleppey Ripples in the Kerala Cricket League (KCL) which changed his luck. He played only three matches and picked two wickets for Ripples, but somehow caught the eye of MI’s talent scout and was summoned for trials in Mumbai.
A nervous Vignesh bowled to the likes of Hardik Pandya at the nets and got only one over in the first trials. But he was able to impress the MI coaching staff, especially Mahela Jayawardene.
“Mahela sir knew I was nervous, so he came up to me and advised me to take it easy, and I became more confident. I attended two more trials. I was hoping that they would take me as a nets bowler,” said Vignesh, who idolises Kuldeep Yadav.
Suryakumar Yadav also praised the bowler saying, “Amazing, MI is known for that – giving youngsters opportunities. The scouts do this for 10 months, and he (Vignesh) is a product of that. I kept his one over in the pocket if the game went deep, but it was a no-brainer to give him the 18th over,” Suryakumar added..
The toss fell in CSK’s favour, and MI found itself in a position to bat first. CSK’s bowlers, led by the spinners, were on top of their game, picking wickets at regular intervals to restrict the Mumbai side to 155 for nine.
In pursuit of 156, Ruturaj Gaikwad led the way for the hosts, smashing a quickfire 53 (26b, 6×4, 3×6). The CSK skipper got going with his trademark cover drives off Trent Boult. He then smashed Mitchell Santner for a six and two boundaries as CSK made 62 for one in the PowerPlay.
CSK won by four wickets with five balls to spare.
Son of auto driver and student of English literature
From Mallapuram in Kerala, Vikram Puthur, who is currently pursuing MA in English Literature PTM Govt College Perinthalmanna in the Calicut University, is a son of an autorickshaw driver while his mother is a housewife.
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 Puthur’s talent was enough for MI to bring him on board.
The nurturing began immediately after Puthur joined the camp. 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 said, “Lot of time (is) in front of him. Hopefully he will climb a lot more heights.
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, 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, we saw the potential in him rather than looking into how much cricket he has played in the past.” 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,” MI bowling coach Paras 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.
(with inputs from PTI and ANI)
Published – March 24, 2025 10:30 am IST