Rajasthan Royals bought him at the IPL 2026 auction.
Rajasthan Royals (RR) wrist spinner Vignesh Puthur impressed the head coach Kumar Sangakkara in the nets ahead of IPL 2026. The franchise’s official account posted a clip where the young bowler excelled at fielding and bowling in the practice session.
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It starts with Puthur making a direct hit by collecting the ball and releasing it in one motion, which made everyone around him applaud his athleticism. Later, the video cuts to his bowling drills, where he’s seen bowling to LHBs with a loopy trajectory.
He bowled in good areas and showed solid skills with the ball in the video posted by Rajasthan Royals. Kumar Sangakkara followed his bowling closely and went on to exclaim, “I like Puthur” to one of the other coaches standing nearby.
The smile on Sangakkara’s face confirmed that he was mighty impressed with what Vignesh Puthur has to offer with the ball and on the field as a fielder. Last season, he was with Mumbai Indians (MI), for whom the spinner took six wickets at 18.16 runs apiece and an economy rate of 9.08 in five innings, with a best of 3/32 before getting ruled out due to an injury.
Rajasthan Royals had one of the weakest spin attacks last season, where they took the joint second-fewest wickets (27) at the second-worst average (38.11) across 14 matches. Consequently, they had to part ways with Maheesh Theekshana and Wanindu Hasaranga, both of whom were largely ineffective.
Check out: How RR Squad Built Incredible Bowling Depth After IPL 2026 Auction
Before IPL 2026, RR traded Ravindra Jadeja in and bought another quality leg-spinner, Ravi Bishnoi, apart from other uncapped options like Yash Raj Punja and Vignesh Puthur, at the auction. At the moment, Jadeja and Bishnoi are sure starters, while Riyan Parag will be another decent tweaker who could roll over his arms and bowl a couple of overs.
So, Vignesh’s chances in the XI are low at the moment, at least for the start of the tournament. However, Bishnoi is a vulnerable spinner who didn’t have a great last season with Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and has often become predictable with his variations and pace.
If his performances remain underwhelming, Rajasthan Royals will need someone else who could bowl attacking lengths and bring wickets from the non-Jadeja end. Since Yash remains inexperienced and there are no other spinners in the squad, they could bring in Vignesh Puthur, who seems to be in nice rhythm and has impressed the head coach with his exploits, at some stage.
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