Chennai Super Kings (CSK) managed to win hearts on and off the field. First, they beat arch-rivals Mumbai Indians (MI) by four wickets at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chepauk. Later, their favorite son, MS Dhoni won hearts by admiring the bowling of debutant Vignesh Puthur. The CSK star gave an adorable pat on the MI youngster's back and applauded him for bowling a terrific spell in his debut IPL match.
Puthur was very difficult to read at the Chepauk surface, which was truly a spinner's paradise. The Kerala youngster picked up three wickets and almost gave CSK a mighty scare in the run chase of 156. Dhoni, who came to the crease with only four runs required was quick to applaud the mighty efforts of Puthur.
The wicketkeeper-batter's lovely gesture was the talking point on the social media. Seeing Dhoni admire Puthur, commentator Ravi Shastri said, "Pat on the shoulder for young Vignesh Puthur. I don't think he will forget it for a long time."
MI scouting team yet again unearths a gem in Vignesh Puthur
Yet again, for the umpteenth number of time, MI proved their scouting team is one of the best in IPL by unearthing Puthur. The 24-year-old, who is yet to make his senior debut for the Kerala team proved to be the point of difference. He picked up the big wickets of Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shivam Dube, and Deepak Hooda. Such was the impact of Puthur that MI stand-in-skipper Suryakumar Yadav held him for one of his overs at the fag end of the innings.
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After the game, Surya lavished praise on Puthur and rightly credited the MI scouting team for finding such quality talented players.
"Amazing, MI is known for that - giving youngsters opportunities, the scouts do this for 10 months, and he (Vignesh) is a product of that. I kept his one over in the pocket if the game went deep, but it was a no-brainer to give him the 18th over. There wasn't any dew, but it was sticky, the way Ruturaj batted in the second innings took the game away from us. It is a long way away," said Suryakumar Yadav after the match.
