Tamil Nadu Premier League: 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.
