On Monday morning, when Sreerag dialled Vignesh Puthur, he didn’t waste a single second to ask the question that has been on everyone’s lips since Sunday night. “Eddaaa, pulli entha da paranchu? (What did MS Dhoni say) is what I asked first because even my parents were keen to know,” Sreerag says. Dhoni was seen talking to Vignesh, and patting his back after Vignesh’s impressive debut for Mumbai Kings in the game against Chennai Super Kings. So what did Dhoni say? “Dhoni asked him how old is he and told Vignesh to keep doing the same things that have brought him to the IPL,” Sreerag breaks the suspense.
It is the question that almost everyone has been asking the 24-year old Vignesh’s father Babu, a familiar auto rickshaw driver in the Kunnapally locality in Perinthalmanna town in Malappuram. Few in the town know Vignesh as well as Sreerag, his close friend who used to take the wrist-spinner on his bike for training sessions and to restaurants that serve fish.
“If you talk to him, you won’t believe he has so much talent. He is a very shy boy and an introvert. Won’t talk much…but with the ball in hand, he is a totally different person. The world got to see it last night,” Sreerag says.
The men in 💛 take home the honours! 💪
A classic clash in Chennai ends in the favour of #CSK ✨
Scorecard ▶ https://t.co/QlMj4G7kV0#TATAIPL | #CSKvMI | @ChennaiIPL pic.twitter.com/ZGPkkmsRHe
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) March 23, 2025
It is a view shared by his childhood coach CG Vijayakumar too. He has been watching Vignesh bowl since he had come as a 10-year old wearing a Kolkata Knight Riders’ jersey with the name Gautam Gambhir printed at the back.
“When any kid joins our academy, we always let him try everything… batting, wicketkeeping, fast bowling, spin. But with Vignesh, from the start it was all about wrist-spin because he had a rubbery wrist and a flowing action. Wrist spin is an art and he had everything to learn. The first impression always counts and look what he did in Chennai,” Vijayakumar says.
It was Vignesh’s neighbour Shareef who first planted the thought of bowling wrist spin. “We used to play together. I liked bowling leg-spin, but I couldn’t bowl it. So I asked him to try it and even with the tennis ball he was getting good turn. I was determined to take him to the camp and told his parents as well that if he starts playing cricket seriously, he will come good,” says Shareef who stopped playing beyond age-group levels.
With wickets coming in heaps, Vignesh would find himself being part of Kerala’s age-group squads all along with the lone exception being the elusive senior cap. That Mumbai Indians still went ahead and bought him at the auction, just tells you how much of a potential they see in him.
Vignesh with his friends back home in Malappuram.
And Vijayakumar isn’t surprised. “If I’ve to be honest, he didn’t have a good outing in the Under-23 levels which is why he couldn’t make it to the Kerala team. He was struggling a bit, but I was confident that it was just to do with the form. I even sent his videos to Mr Balachandran, who is the senior most coach in Kerala and even he didn’t find anything wrong. It was only a matter of time and thankfully, MI scouts didn’t go by wickets. They just went by his potential,” Vijayakumar says.
Story continues below this ad
By 15 he was playing for Jolly Rovers first XI, captained by former Kerala player Shabin Pasha. At the age-group levels, he developed a googly as well as the flipper as he picked wickets consistently. Like Vijayakumar, even Pasha was surprised that Vignesh couldn’t get a breakthrough season in the Kerala Cricket League, but was impressed how he bounced back.
“He had a bit of asthma issues and didn’t think he was at his best when the KCL happened. MI scouts just noticed his uniqueness and when he went for the trials, we were a bit confident that he would be bought at the auction because he had everything that you need to succeed in the T20s,” Pasha says.
The last 12 hours have been overwhelming for Vignesh’s parents, says Sreerag. “They were clearly taken aback. At this moment, you need to stay true to your roots and that’s what I told them. We have seen what quick fame and money could do to cricketers. We saw it with Vinod Kambli then and now we are seeing it with Prithvi Shaw. This one game doesn’t make him good or bad,” he says.
Though Vignesh’s life has changed for good since he was bought at the auction, Sreerag says his friend hasn’t changed much. “You ask anyone in this locality, everyone will talk about his good character. These small tea shops used to be our hangouts. We may have to change that, but knowing him, he won’t. I’m just waiting to see what he does about his favourite Oreo milkshake. He loves having that, but now with diet in place, all of it would disappear I believe. But a feast is long pending when he comes back!”
