Manav Suthar joins Rohit Sharma and Shreyas Iyer to become only the 9th Indian to…

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Manav Suthar (BCCI Photo) NEW DELHI: Manav Suthar’s journey from dreaming of playing Test cricket for India to winning the Player of the Match award on debut could not have been scripted better. Donning the baggy blue for the first time, the 23-year-old left-arm spinner from Rajasthan became India’s 319th Test cricketer and made an immediate impact as India crushed Afghanistan by an innings and 300 runs in the one-off Test at Mullanpur – the country’s biggest Test win.Suthar played a central role in the dominant win, returning sensational figures of 6/33 in Afghanistan’s first innings before adding another wicket in the second innings to end the match by seven wickets. He also chipped in with a valuable 28 runs in India’s first innings.After India piled up a mammoth 564/8, declared thanks to centuries from KL Rahul and captain Shubman Gill, Afghanistan had no answers to Suthar’s accuracy and control. The left-armer tore through the visitors’ batting line-up to become only the tenth Indian overall – and the seventh spinner – to take five wickets on Test debut.His figures of 6/33 are also the best by an Indian bowler on Test debut in 38 years.

An exclusive club

Suthar’s match-winning effort earned him the Player of the Match award, making him only the ninth Indian cricketer to win the award on his men’s Test debut.The elite list includes Pravin Amre, RP Singh, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Prithvi Shaw, Shreyas Iyer and Yashasvi Jaiswal.

Indians win Player of the Match on Men’s Test debut:

  • Pravin Amre (vs South Africa, 1992)
  • RP Singh (vs Pakistan, 2006)
  • Ravichandran Ashwin (vs West Indies, 2011)
  • Shikhar Dhawan (vs Australia, 2013)
  • Rohit Sharma (vs West Indies, 2013)
  • Prithvi Shaw (vs West Indies, 2018)
  • Shreyas Iyer (vs New Zealand, 2021)
  • Yashasvi Jaiswal (vs West Indies, 2023)
  • Manav Suthar (vs Afghanistan, 2026)

Consistency is everything for Manav Suthar

After receiving the Player of the Match award, Suthar reflected on the biggest lesson from his first Test appearance.“The biggest lesson is that consistency is everything. You have to keep bowling in the same area all the time. I think that’s the most important thing in Test cricket. It’s a format that requires a lot of patience,” Suthar said at the handover ceremony.“That’s what I’ve learned, be patient, stick to your plans and consistently hit the right areas,” he said.For Suthar, it was about much more than goals and records. The youngster admitted that fulfilling his dream of playing Test cricket for India is still sinking in.“It was a very surreal feeling. It was my dream from the very beginning to play for India and play Test cricket. So it was an incredible moment for me and it honestly felt quite surreal.”

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How batting helped Manav Suthar’s bowling

Interestingly, Suthar revealed that his brief stint at the crease helped him understand the conditions before taking the ball in hand.“Even when I went in to bat, I felt pretty comfortable. When I settled in and faced a few deliveries, I realized there was a bit of help on the wicket for the spinners.”“Then when I came to bowl and bowled my first over, I had the same feeling. After that I just focused on using the right line, length and pace.”The left-hander said he didn’t try anything flashy at the start and instead played up his strengths.“Initially I was focused on understanding how the wicket plays. So I wanted to rely as much as possible on supply deliveries.”“Once I understood that the wicket was a little slow and required some changes in pace, I started making those adjustments. But the main idea was always to make my ball as efficient as possible.”