A left-arm spin-bowling all-rounder, darting the balls with insane precision, Manav Suthar hogged the limelight with his stellar Test debut during the one-off match between India and Afghanistan in Mullanpur. The Rajasthan all-rounder, Suthar, became the talk of the town after his six-wicket haul in the first innings of the fixture.
Not only because he scalped six wickets and became just the 10th Indian and seventh spinner to have achieved a fifer on Test debut, but due to his control, spin and precision, his name has been on everyone’s lips. Former India cricketer and legend Sunil Gavaskar was one of the experts to shower praise on the rising star after his 6/33 in the first innings.
Gavaskar hailed the accuracy of the left-arm spinner with which he dismantled the visitors’ batting line-up in the first innings, bowling them out for just 152. “People say a spin bowler is successful in India because he gets help from the pitch. The conditions are favourable for him. But I would say, here against Afghanistan, take the pitch out of the equation. Bowling comes down to skill and control. And that is exactly what this young man (Manav Suthar) showed,” Gavaskar said on JioStar.
“Manav Suthar has a simple, repeatable action. That gives him great accuracy. He knows exactly where each ball is going to land. That kind of control is rare. When you have drift and can land the ball in the right spot consistently, you don’t need a turning track to take wickets. Suthar outsmarted the Afghanistan batters not with a sharp turn, but with flight, dip, and precision,” he added.
Not just with the ball, Manav is also pretty handy with the bat. He made 28 off 41 balls in the only innings India batted, scoring two fours and as many sixes. He has a first-class century and six half tons in the format. Manav’s batting average is 25.60 in FC, which by no means is bad for a bowling all-rounder rising in his career.
Is Jadeja’s place under threat?
The kind of performance that Suthar has displayed certainly opens the doors for India for the future. This Test was the first at home in which neither Ravindra Jadeja nor Ravichandran Ashwin were part of. Ashwin has retired, and Jadeja was rested. There was no Axar Patel, either.
Apart from the Tests, Jadeja and Axar are not in the ODI squad for the Afghanistan series, either. While announcing India’s squads for these two series, India’s chief selector Ajit Agarkar had revealed that Jadeja is still an integral part of the Test side, and his exclusion from the ODIs is due to India wanting to try other options.
“He (Jadeja) is still an integral part of the team,” Agarkar told the media while naming India’s squads. “With regards to ODIs, with 15-16 months left, we want to try and assess what our options are, keeping in mind the conditions in South Africa are. We know what Jadeja and Axar can do. With regards to the test, he still remains the No. 1 spinner.”
Jadeja is 37 now and is in the twilight of his career. While the chief selector claimed that he is still the No.1 spinner in the Tests, it is understood that India are looking towards the future and wanting to find options in the post-Jadeja era. One obvious one is Axar, but they need more, especially after the retirement of Ashwin.
And Manav has displayed that he can be trusted in the long term with the skills that he possesses. He has the drift, turn, speed and precision to trouble the batters. And that is what he showed in the Afghanistan Test. He will face tough challenges coming up when India head to Sri Lanka in August for a two-match Test series and even sterner ones against New Zealand (away) and against Australia (home) but he has shown that he has the pedigree to be successful on the biggest stage.
When Jadeja’s time comes up, Manav can be the one who will take the baton along with Axar. And that might not be far away now.
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