Mumbai Indians (MI) have confirmed that left-arm leg spinner Vignesh Puthur has been ruled out of IPL 2025 due to bone stress reactions in both shins. In response, the franchise has signed uncapped leg spinner Raghu Sharma as Puthur’s replacement. Puthur had made a strong impression in his debut season, notably picking up three wickets in his very first match against Chennai Super Kings. Over five matches, he took six wickets at an economy rate of 9.08, earning widespread praise despite having no prior first-class cricket experience.

Although sidelined, Vignesh Puthur is staying with the Mumbai Indians during recovery. The team management has ensured he continues to receive medical and fitness attention from the team's medical and fitness professionals. This is to reaffirm that Puthur returns to full fitness and is back competing in cricket as soon as possible. Having a person around gives the team presence that will help with Puthur's rehabilitation and for him to remain engaged mentally in the environment of the squad.

See Also: IPL 2025: Mumbai Indians rope in Raghu Sharma as replacement for Vignesh Puthur

"Vignesh will continue to be with the team to focus on his recovery and rehabilitation with the Mumbai Indians medical and S&C team," the franchise said in a statement.

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Who Is Raghu Sharma?

Raghu Sharma is a right-arm leg-break bowler who was born in Punjab's Jalandhar in March 1993. He played for Punjab and Puducherry in domestic cricket. In just 11 first-class matches, Sharma has taken 57 wickets at an average of 19.59, with best bowling figures of 7/56. In List A cricket, Sharma picked up 14 wickets in nine matches, with best figures of 4/37. Adding this, he also played in 3 T20 matches where he picked up three wickets. Just like Puthur, this will be a maiden IPL stint for him. He joins MI at his base price of Rs 30 lakhs from the RAPP list.

MI had a slow start in this tournament, as at one time, MI was in the 9th spot in the IPL 2025 points table, where in the first five games in the IPL 2025, Mumbai Indians had managed to win just one game. But since then, they have defeated all five of their opponents and are currently in a strong position in the IPL 2025 standings. Currently, Mumbai Indians are in third place on the points table with 12 points from ten games, heading into the IPL 2025 clash against the Rajasthan Royals on Thursday.