Mumbai Indians might have lost their opening match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season but the contest against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) helped them unearth a new gem in the form of Vignesh Puthur. The spinner, making his IPL debut, bagged three wickets in the match. Though his performance couldn’t help Mumbai open their win account, Puthur did paint a promising picture for the future. For many it was a surprise to see Puthur in the line-up against CSK, but it was all because of the way he performance against the trio of Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, and Tilak Varma in the nets, that convinced the MI management.
Mumbai Indian coach Paras Mhambrey revealed that Vignesh Puthur, who was bought in the IPL 2025 mega auction for a fee of INR 30 lakh, left Rohit, Surya and Tilak absolutely stumped in the nets, hence earning his deserved IPL debut.
“Rohit, Surya, Tilak, all these guys batted against him (in the nets). It wasn’t easy to pick him. We felt that we had the confidence of pushing him in this game. And it turned out to be excellent. It was a good decision,” Paras Mhambrey told The Indian Express.
“We have to compliment our scouting guys,” the MI bowling coach further said. “The idea has always been about seeing the potential more than anything else. And when we saw him in one of our trials, we saw the potential in him. Rather than looking into how much cricket he’s played in the past. It’s purely the thought that he has the potential. And you saw that today. Never easy, first game against CSK, it’s a big game. But purely the way he responded, hats off to him,” he added.
Despite being on the losing side, Gen BOLD’s newest superstar Vignesh Puthur put on an unforgettable show against #CSK at Chepauk.
From Alleppey to Mumbai, @sherryontopp and @jatinsapru narrate this young star’s rise to the big league!
Watch him next in #IPLonJioStar… pic.twitter.com/fWMFJ4Qcqv
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) March 23, 2025
Puthur offers a unique skill set that isn’t available to many teams in the game across the globe. Hence, Mhambrey feels it was a risk worth taking.
“I think the uniqueness. I think in this format, you need to be a little bit different. And you see all the Chinaman bowlers – Kuldeep prior to this has done well. So I think the idea was kind of how we use him in terms of the potential that he has,” Mhambrey said.
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