One of the stand out qualities of the five-time IPL winner Mumbai Indians is to unleash inexperienced and unknown players in the IPL. They have done it on a regular basis and importantly, their daring and seemingly risky moves have succeeded.
In keeping with that trend, Mumbai Indians sprung a big surprise when they replaced Rohit Sharma with Vignesh Puthur as the impact player against CSK. This move flummoxed the opponents and also the keen followers of the game as Puthur was not heard of before. Suddenly the rush was on to find out more information about Puthur, the left arm wrist spinner. A bit of research revealed that he hailed from Kerala and had not yet made his debut for his State side. Prior to his debut for Mumbai Indians at the MAC stadium on the Sunday evening, he had played in the Kerala Premier League and the DY Patil T20 Cup, which is an annual tournament conducted in Mumbai. The DY Patil T20 cup is a precursor to the IPL, as far as the Mumbai Indians are concerned.
Puthur was bought at his price of Rs. 30 lakhs and had played for Alleppey Ripples in the KPL. On the academic front, he is pursuing his MA in literature from the Calicut University. Puthur was thrust into the deep end when the CSK openers got off to a good start, chasing a target of 156. Puthur picked up three wickets, those of big-hitters like Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shivam Dube and Deepak Hooda. They possessed the ability to destroy any bowler, but it was Puthur who got the better of them. Puthur bowled confidently, finished with returns of 3/32 in his four overs, to become the latest success story from the Mumbai Indians stable. Yet another raw talent had been identified, nurtured and given the opportunity to make a mark in the IPL.
MI did this with the likes of Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya in the past, who shot into limelight through the IPL. They have gone on to become World beaters after debuting for MI in 2013 and 2015, respectively. They are amongst the biggest crowd pullers in world cricket today, let alone in the IPL.
Mumbai Indians don’t hand out IPL caps just like that. A lot of work goes behind the scenes with dedicated talent scouts watching domestic players in action in various T20 leagues across the country. The MI scouts are former cricketers of high repute with varying levels of success at the international stage and who have an eye for spotting talent. Among the scouts in MI ranks over the years included former India coach John Wright, former India pacer, national selector and pace guru TA Sekar, former India players Parthiv Patel and R Vinay Kumar, to name just a few.
A lot of work gets done in the MI set up with regard to spotting talent and eventually fielding the talent in the IPL. The national domestic T20 competition, the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, is a major tournament that the scouts watch closely. The talent scouts watch all the matches and put forward the names of the players with potential to the MI think-tank. The talented players are brought to the Mumbai Indians Performance Centre (MIPC) and evaluated in detail from the technical perspective and other parameters. They are then tested under different simulated scenarios and the results are fed into a data base for future reference and assessment. The skill sets of the recommended players are assessed in more ways than one before a final decision is made.
MI also try and identify players for the future by nurturing talented kids in their early teens as well. MI also grooms the identified players by taking them as net bowlers and as travelling reserves to bowl to their players featuring in other leagues. Besides, they are made to spend some time with the likes of Rashid Khan, Hashim Amla and Robin Peterson to fast track their skill development. Puthur was one such player, who was a net bowler at the latest SA20 for MI Cape Town and learnt the ropes.
MI are known to promote some of their net bowlers into the main squad as injury replacements. One such example being Kumar Karthikeya, the left-arm spinner from Madhya Pradesh, who replaced the injured Arshad Khan midway through IPL 2022 and played in four matches, picking five wickets and doubled the match number to eight in IPL 2023. He has since moved over to Rajasthan Royals his year.
Now that Puthur has made a dream start, his stocks are sure to rise. He will join many others, who before him, were picked from nowhere and went on to make a huge impression in the cricket World. The MI custom of constantly unleashing raw talent in the IPL has proved beneficial to cricket.
Who ever said the return on investments accrues only in the form of money always?
