Why do we watch sport? Is it just for the larger-than-life figures like MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli? Or is it also for the beautiful, unexpected surprises that it can throw up? Viv Richards might have growled ‘One swallow doesn’t a summer make’ after Narendra Hirwani’s mindblowing 16-wicket debut in Chennai, but the fact remains that the Madhya Pradesh leg-spinner remains in our imagination because of that remarkable feat.
Nearly 40 years on, it was the turn of another unknown to nearly upstage the titans at Chepauk. Before 11pm on Sunday night, the universal response to Vignesh Puthur’s name would have been: “Who?” No longer. In the space of 16 balls, Vignesh sent back Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shivam Dube and Deepak Hooda to have journalists and fans across the land scrambling for whatever information they could find.
Gaikwad, Dhoni’s heir apparent, almost certainly didn’t know that he was undone by an opponent studying for his master’s degree in literature at PTM Government College in Perinthalmanna. An unremarkable town that no one visits, but one you usually pass through on the journey between Kochi and Kozhikode in the north, Perinthalmanna does boast a couple of state-of-the art hospitals.
Not far from one of them, near the private bus stand, is where Sunil Kumar, Vignesh’s father, can be found parking his autorickshaw. KP Bindu, his mother, is a homemaker. Having learned the tricks of the trade from Vijayan, a local coach, Vignesh made his way through the age-group teams for Kerala before his career stalled in his early 20s.
Though he was an afterthought buy for Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Riyadh auction, he has yet to play any format for the Kerala senior team, which lost the Ranji Trophy final to Vidarbha recently. But the MI scout at the Kerala Premier League saw something in his displays for Alleppey Ripples – he took only two wickets – that made him alert those higher up the food chain.
India may be the land of spin, but it has seldom been the land of mystery when it comes to the turning ball. Bhagwat Chandrasekhar’s freakish qualities were more down to an arm withered by polio, and his height, than any Houdini-like tricks. And the great left-armers – Bishan Singh Bedi, and the two who couldn’t supplant him, Padmakar Shivalkar and Rajinder Goel – all bowled orthodox spin. Flight, loop and drift were their weapons, not back-of-the-hand googlies.
Many domestic players make IPL squads without getting a game. Sachin Baby, Kerala’s captain, made his IPL debut as long ago as 2013, when Sachin Tendulkar was still playing. In all these years, he has made 19 appearances, the last of them in 2021. So, even though Vignesh was in the squad, he journeyed to MI’s preparatory camp after the Champions Trophy with almost no expectations. The goal was mostly to soak in the armosphere and learn as much as he could from the legends in the dressing room.
It undoubtedly helped his cause that Mahela Jayawardene is back in the MI dugout as coach. A generation ago, Jayawardene’s guidance from the slip cordon played in huge role in Ajantha Mendis bamboozling India with 26 wickets in his debut Test series, not long after he had destroyed them in an Asia Cup final. Sri Lanka embraces the outliers, from Muttiah Muralitharan’s extraordinary wrist to Lasith Malinga’s coconut shys and Mendis’s carrom ball.
The decision to bring in Vignesh as impact sub clearly had some Jayawardene influence behind it. But even he couldn’t have foreseen the impact the 24-year-old would have. Gaikwad is now a relative IPL veteran and won the Orange Cap in 2021. Dube chews up and spits out spinners, with his incredible reach allowing him to swat the ball into whichever stand he pleases. Hooda too is a monster hitter.
Gaikwad and Dube were both caught on the straight boundary, with Vignesh unafraid to toss the ball up into the hitting zone. Hooda fell to a miscued sweep. In those first 16 balls, there was only one gorgeous straight six from the unflustered Rachin Ravindra to upset Vignesh’s rhythm.
Suryakumar Yadav took him off after that 12th over, bringing him back only for the 18th, by which time the game was in the balance. This time, Vignesh was undone by the young man 15 months his senior. Ravindra is already well on his way to becoming a great of the game, and his two sixes in a 15-run over killed the game.
We don’t know what destiny has in store for Vignesh, but for now, he will still be seeing stars. After all, even Dhoni – Chepauk’s presiding deity – tapped him on the shoulder in appreciation at game’s end. The media in Kerala may still be referring to him as the Chinaman, but on Monday morning, Vignesh is very much the unassuming local lad who has put Perinthalmanna on the map.
From KPL to IPL, the story of the 24-year-old left-arm wrist spinner for @mipaltan, #VigneshPuthur who made headlines in #CSKvsMI at the M. A Chidambaram Stadium last night.
His story of bowling to #RohitSharma, #SuryaKumarYadav and the others at the nets and how they found him… pic.twitter.com/XwvTX45AEC
— RevSportz Global (@RevSportzGlobal) March 24, 2025