Scouted, sharpened, spotlighted: Vignesh Puthur steps up

There was a poignant moment at the end of Mumbai Indians' season opener in Chennai that brought IPL debutant Vignesh Puthur face to face with MS Dhoni - all of 391 T20 games and nearly 20 years separating the pair. The sweet exchange ended with a smiling Dhoni giving the starry-eyed youngster a few appreciative pats on the shoulder.

Mumbai Indians may have lost their opening match for a remarkable 13th straight year, but like their new left-arm wristspinner, the franchise's fabled scouting system still ended the night with a few well-earned pats on the shoulder. They'd worked overtime behind the scenes to enable this brief meet-cute, picking up Puthur from the relative obscurity of the Kerala Cricket League and throwing him under the brightest of lights, and stars, at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.

Puthur, the 24-year-old from Malappuram in Kerala, held up his end of the bargain with classical spin bowling, claiming 3 for 32 and adding more than a few worry lines on those decked in yellow, who might have assumed a canter to the finish line. His wickets included that of CSK's captain Ruturaj Gaikwad, their spin crusher Shivam Dube and India World Cupper Deepak Hooda. Each tried to impose themselves on the spinner, but only managed to find fielders in the deep, the slowness of the surface and Puthur's deception combining to undo their intent.

Puthur had evoked such confidence in Suryakumar Yadav that MI's stand-in captain had held back one of the youngster's overs for the death as the game funnelled to a close finish. How was a player with no senior T20 experience under his belt readied for a such a big stage? "I think the idea at MI is always seeing the potential more than anything else," Mhambrey said, explaining the process that was followed in fast-tracking Puthur. "And when we saw him for one of our trials, we saw the potential in him rather than looking into how much cricket he has played in the past.

"He spins the ball pretty consistently, lands the ball on pretty much where we wanted. Is pretty accurate with it. I think those are the tick marks that we look into but not only that. But it's just the fact that he is different. Spins the ball, has a googly. That kind of stuff. So you know he will be able to trouble quality batters with the skills that he has."

With spin expected to play a role in Chennai, Puthur had a lengthy bowling stint in the MI nets in the build-up to the game and caught the eye of even the India stalwarts. "I think when Rohit [Sharma] and Surya and Tilak [Varma]... all these guys batted against him, they felt it wasn't that easy," Mhambrey said. "So [that was] one of the reasons we felt we had the confidence of pushing him in this game.

"Never easy, first game against CSK, it's a big game. But purely the way he responded, hats off to him. I think he was able to hold his nerves and handle pressure superbly. I think he really got us in the game. Very happy about his performance."

But it wasn't just a few net sessions that sold the MI think-tank. They carefully mapped out a plan to ensure the youngster wasn't caught cold under the glare of the big stage. After being spotted in the Kerala Cricket League, Puthur was invited for trials ahead of the IPL mega auction. After backing their scouting with an INR 30 lakh winning bid, MI sent him to join sister franchise MI Cape Town as a net bowler at the SA20. He then played three games for the Reliance team at the DY Patil T20 tournament before joining MI's pre-season camp.

"The need of the hour [for Puthur's growth as a player], it's more about the conversations," Mhambrey said. "Not purely on the skill work so much really. I think that he is pretty much sorted out there I felt. But more about the conversations that he had. An opportunity with MJ [Mahela Jayawardene] or [Kieron] Pollard. Or the batters, especially Surya or Rohit.

"You never get an opportunity to have that conversation. So I think it's more about him having a chat with everyone. And as I said, he's a sweet kid. Great team man, good person to have in the team. He's like a sponge, he's just listening. He has got [nervous] sometimes because you have heroes, you see them playing on the TV, and all of a sudden, you're sharing that dressing room with them, sitting next to someone like Rohit, it's a dream come true for a lot of these guys, right?

"But purely for the fact that the way he responded [in the game against CSK] never looked like he was under pressure from the very first ball. And that was good to see, I think. It's just the way he handled pressure."

Even in defeat, for MI it was a small payoff on a long drawn-out investment, the kind of debut that vindicates their process once more. And for Puthur, it was the first step on a journey that began in the margins and now plays out on centre stage.