‘We felt that there is talent’: MI head coach on giving spinner Vignesh exposure during SA20 season three

NEW DELHI: Ahead of the Mumbai Indians (MI) clash against Gujarat Titans (GT), MI head coach Mahela Jayawardene spoke on sending Vignesh Puthur, team’s newest find, to South Africa as a net bowler of MI Cape town during the SA20 season three earlier this year.

The MI scouting team continues on its task, as Vignesh, a 24-year-old wrist spinner picked from Kerala T20 league where he played for Alleypey Ripples, made his professional T20 debut during MI’s high-profile opener against Chennai Super Kings (CSK).

In the match, he threatened to change the game in favour of CSK during a 156-run chase, picking up three wickets for 32 runs in losing cause.
Before this IPL, Vignesh was sent to South Africa as a net bowler for MI Cape Town in SA20 season three, a team which also features Afghanistan superstar spinner Rashid Khan.

Speaking ahead of the match in a pre-match presser, Jayawardene, also the global head of performance for all MI’s T20 franchises, spoke on Vignesh.

“I was not there [at the SA20], yes, I was part of the thought process, but I was not here. It was just to get him out and expose him to cricket because we felt that there is talent and because he hasn’t played much cricket prior, gave him that exposure working with some players. And that’s about it. VP (Vignesh) is being chilled and he’s getting along with it,” he said, according to ESPNCricinfo.

During the CSK clash, in absence of pacer Jasprit Bumrah and all-rounder Hardik Pandya, MI gave IPL debuts to seamer S Raju and spinner Vignesh. During match against GT, Vignesh could get to play against Rashid.

MI will be in action in their second match of IPL 2025 against Gujarat Titans on March 29 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Both the teams registered defeats in their first matches and would be aiming to get their first points.

Gujarat Titans: Jos Buttler, Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan, Glenn Phillips, Shahrukh Khan, Washington Sundar, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Ishant Sharma, Jayant Yadav, Mahipal Lomror, Karim Janat, Kulwant Khejroliya, Anuj Rawat, Gerald Coetzee, Sherfane Rutherford, Manav Suthar, Kumar Kushagra, Arshad Khan, Gurnoor Brar, Nishant Sindhu.

Mumbai Indians: Hardik Pandya (c), Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Robin Minz, Ryan Rickelton (wk), Shrijith Krishnan (wk), Bevon Jacobs, Tilak Varma, Naman Dhir, Will Jacks, Mitchell Santner, Raj Angad Bawa, Vignesh Puthur, Corbin Bosch, Trent Boult, Karn Sharma, Deepak Chahar, Ashwani Kumar, Reece Topley, VS Penmetsa, Arjun Tendulkar, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Jasprit Bumrah.(ANI)