Kerala spinner Vignesh Puthur will play for the Rajasthan Royals in the next IPL. The 23-year-old attracted interest from Rajasthan Royals, who secured his services for the base price of ₹30 lakh.

Puthur would have played under Sanju Samson's captaincy, but the ace wicketkeeper-batter recently made a high-profile switch to Chennai Super Kings.

Nevertheless, the left-arm spinner can definitely get a recommendation letter from Sanju, who was one of the most influential players at Rajasthan over the years. Moreover, it was under Sanju's captaincy that Puthur earned his maiden senior Kerala cap in the recent Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20.

Sanju Samson batting for Rajasthan Royals in the IPL. File photo: PTI/R Senthil Kumar
Sanju Samson batting for Rajasthan Royals in the IPL. File photo: PTI/R Senthil Kumar

It wasn't surprising to hear a lot of cheers from the crowd when Puthur's name came up. Considering the auction is being held in Dubai, one can assume that a good number of those supporters were Malayali expats.

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Puthur made a massive impact on his IPL debut last season, taking three wickets for the Mumbai Indians against CSK.

The native of Perinthalmanna in Malappuram had been on the radar of the MI scouts ahead of IPL 2025 after his performances for the Alappuzha Ripples in the Kerala Cricket League (KCL).

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Puthur was the second Malayali player to be auctioned on the day. The first name that came up was 20-year-old pacer Eden Apple Tom. Surprisingly, the attacking bowler had no takers and went unsold. A reason could be that Eden has yet to break into Kerala's T20 set-up despite impressing in the Ranji Trophy.

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