Meet Manav Suthar, the unassuming debutant spinner who turned heads

There were no surprises in India’s mammoth win over Afghanistan inside three days in the one-off Test at Mullanpur, but there was certainly a surprise package in the form of an unassuming young spinner from the border town of Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan. Manav Suthar, the 23-year-old debutant left-arm spinner, showed signs that the search for a successor to Ravindra Jadeja in red ball cricket may have ended, with a total haul of seven wickets for 62 runs.

It was the first time in 15 years that India played a home Test without either Ravichandran Ashwin or Ravindra Jadeja, the latter having been rested for the match. Back in 2018, the celebrated spin duo had dismantled a young Afghanistan side in Bengaluru. This time, responsibility fell on a new-look spin attack led by Kuldeep Yadav against an Afghan team that had grown considerably in red-ball cricket. And the attack delivered, with Suthar becoming only the 10th Indian bowler to claim a fifer on debut, thanks to his 6/33 in the first innings.

Who is Manav Suthar? A little digging shows that Suthar, who plays for Gujarat Titans in the IPL, earned the Test call-up on the back of a string of outstanding performances in domestic cricket and for India A. He first grabbed national attention during the 2022-23 Ranji Trophy season, finishing as Rajasthan’s leading wicket-taker with 39 wickets in just six matches. His cumulative record in first-class cricket is a total of 129 wickets and 945 runs from 29 matches.

In recent times, Suthar has been a stellar performer for India A, finishing as joint highest wicket-taker in the unofficial Test series against Australia A (which included a standout 107/5) and excelled in the 2023 ACC Emerging Team Asia Cup.

The left-arm spinner with a classical action showcased impressive control over his length, drift and turn, consistently asking questions of the Afghan batters. He managed to extract sharp turn from a surface which didn’t offer much, and none of the Afghan batters really looked comfortable against him. Some were beaten by the spin, while others surrendered their wickets trying to force the pace against a bowler who refused to relent.

Named player of the match, Suthar described receiving his Test cap as an ‘’unreal’’ moment and said the debut had reinforced the value of patience in red-ball cricket. It may be just the beginning for him, but he has certainly sent a strong enough signal to the Gambhir-Agarkar duo for the Test series against Sri Lanka in July-August, and future campaigns.