From Novice to Notable: MUM’s Vignesh Puthur Shines Bright on Ind-T20 League Debut Despite T20 Inexperience!

Left-arm wrist spinners had a ball in Chennai’s (CHE) opening game of the 2025 season. Noor Ahmed was the pick of the bowlers with four wickets to his name but a complete unknown almost matched him. Vignesh Puthur- A 24-year-old from Kerala with no T20 experience at the senior level was able to take the prized scalps of Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shivam Dube and Deepak Hooda. His timely strikes kept Mumbai (MUM) in the game; at one point, they looked like they might be able to defend 155. 

MUM’s bowling coach - Paras Mhambrey explained the reason behind Puthur’s selection and why he did so well in his debut. "I think the idea at MUM is always seeing the potential more than anything else," he said. "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.

"He spins the ball pretty consistently. Lands the ball on pretty much what [where] we wanted. Is pretty accurate with it. I think those are the tick marks that we look into but not only that. But it's just the fact that he is different. Spins the ball, and has a googly. That kind of stuff. So you know he will be able to trouble quality batters with the skills that he has."

Puthur was brought in as the Impact Player in the second innings and started his spell outside the powerplay. By then, Chennai had got more than one-third of the runs of the 155 run-chase and Ruturaj Gaikwad was their primary source of acceleration. Puthur tossed one up. Gaikwad tried to clear the straight boundary but couldn’t. Dube and Hooda also attempted to take the attack to the youngster in his next two overs but failed to do so. The lack of pace did the trick for the debutant as he deceived batters with his deceptive pace variations. 

"I think when Rohit [Sharma] and Surya[kumar Yadav] and Tilak [Varma], all these guys batted against him, they felt it wasn't that easy," Mhambrey said. "So [that was] one of the reasons we felt we had the confidence of pushing him in this game.

"Never easy, first game against CHE, it's a big game. But purely the way he responded, hats off to him. I think he was able to hold his nerves and handle pressure superbly. I think really got us in the game. Very happy about his performance."

Puthur attended trials for the five-time champions ahead of the Indian T20 League auctions held in November. He was bought for INR 30 Lakh. He then travelled to South Africa to work as a net bowler for MI Cape Town and that helped expedite his development because he was around T20 specialists and did all he could to learn from them.  

The need of the hour [for Puthur's growth as a player], it's more about the conversations," Mhambrey said. "Not purely on the skill work so much really. I think that he is pretty much sorted out there I felt. But more about the conversations that he had. An opportunity with MJ [Mahela Jayawardene] or [Kieron] Pollard. Or the batters especially. Surya or Rohit.

"You never get an opportunity to have that conversation. So I think it's more about him having a chat with everyone. And as I said, he's a sweet kid. Great team man, good person to have in the team. He's like a sponge, he's just listening. He has got [nervous] sometimes because you have heroes, you see them playing on the TV, and all of a sudden, you're sharing that dressing room with them, sitting next to someone like Rohit, it's a dream come true for a lot of these guys, right?

"But purely for the fact that the way he responded [in the game against CHE] never looked like he was under pressure from the very first ball. And that was good to see, I think. It's just the way he handled pressure."