"Playing more matches will help him gain confidence": Sekar on Vignesh Puthur

TA Sekar, the talent spotter for Mumbai Indians, has said that the franchise’s latest find, left-arm wrist spinner Vignesh Puthur needs to be groomed and encouraged to play more matches.

Puthur, 24, played his first big game at any level on Sunday debuting for MI against Chennai Super Kings and picked up a wicket in each of his first three overs to finish with 3-32 in four overs.

From an unknown commodity, Puthur, who is pursuing MA in Literature from Calicut University, has made everybody sit up and take note of his performance against CSK in Chennai.

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TA Sekar

The 69-year-old Sekar, a former India pace bowler and a national selector, spotted Puthur playing for Alleppey Ripples in the Kerala Premier League last year and recommended his name to the MI management.

“He’s got a good action, bowling both chinaman and googly. He had good control over his flight. He was able to keep the batsmen guessing whether the ball was going to come in or go out,” Sekar told mid-day on Monday when asked what he saw in the Kerala bowler at the KPL. “He is also not very tall. So, he will get a better loop. On Sunday, the batsmen didn’t know which side it was going to turn.” Sekar, however, said that Puthur needs to work on his bowling. “Like CSK’s Noor Ahmad, who has been playing T20 leagues the world over, Vignesh needs to play more matches. That will help him gain more confidence. He will know where to bowl. 

‘Don’t change his action’

‘He should be guided properly without people trying to change his actions. He has to also develop some variations like the flipper. He has got good wrist position and wrist action. He should also bowl the ball drifting into the batsman,” Sekar said.

Sekar also said that Puthur would be very helpful for MI in bigger grounds like in Chennai, Jaipur, Lucknow, Kolkata and Ahmedabad. “If he plays in all these grounds, he will learn to bowl on smaller grounds like Wankhede,” said Sekar.

Next target Gujarat Titans

After losing to CSK on Sunday, MI’s next match is on Saturday against Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. 

Puthur, who is yet to play for Kerala in the senior category, played for MI’s team Reliance in the DY Patil Cup just before the IPL. He also gained experience bowling in the SA20 nets to the MI Cape Town players. 

“Bowling in SA20, where most players are not comfortable against spin, Vignesh has benefitted a lot,” said Sekar.