India recently defeated Afghanistan in a one-off Test in New Chandigarh by an innings and 300 runs registering their biggest win in Test cricket. In reply to India’s mammoth total of 564-8, the visitors were bundled out for 152 in their first outing and the debutant Manav Suthar ended with figures of 6 for 33 and a total of 7 wickets in the Test. He had received India Test cap No. 319 from veteran Kuldeep Yadav, another spinner.
His performance with the ball was so impactful that his brisk 28 off 41 balls, including two magnificent sixes, remained unnoticed. He recorded many new feats:
*His 6-33 are the third-best figures for an Indian bowler on a Test debut. Only Narendra Hirwani (who took eight wickets in both innings, against West Indies in 1988) has returned better figures on Test debut for India.
*Only 9th Indian debutant to win a Player-of-the-Match award and only the third to record the feat for bowling (RP Singh against Pakistan in 2006 and R Ashwin against West Indies in 2011).
*Only the fourth player (others: Albert Trott in 1895, Alex Kennedy in 1922, and Joel Garner in 1977) to score 25 or more, claim five or more wickets and to take at least three catches on Test debut (Suthar: 28 runs, 3 catches across both innings and seven wickets) in the game.
* Fifers on Test debut for India : 1932 – Mohd Nissar v ENG, 1961 – Vaman Kumar v PAK, 1967 – S Abid Ali v AUS, 1979 – Dilip Doshi v AUS, 1988 – Narendra Hirwani v WI, 2008 – Amit Mishra v AUS, 2011 – Ravi Ashwin v WI, 2013 – Mohd Shami v WI, 2021 – Axar Patel v ENG, 2026 – Manav Suthar v AFG.
*In his first over in Test cricket, he claimed his first wicket. He dismissed Abdul Malik off just his fourth ball in Test cricket, caught by Mohammed Siraj, only the eighth Indian to pick a wicket in his first over in Tests. Others in the list: Montu Banerjee 1948 against West Indies, Manohar Hardikar 1958 vs West Indies, Vaman Kumar 1961 vs Pakistan, Chetan Sharma 1984 vs Pakistan, WV Raman 1988 vs West Indies, Nilesh Kulkarni 1997 vs Sri Lanka, Tinu Yohannan 2001 vs England.
* Before him, the only Rajasthan player (in first class cricket) to claim a 5w haul in Test cricket for India was Salim Durrani. Vinoo Mankad claimed all his 5w hauls prior to playing for Rajasthan.
Who is this Manav Suthar? He is 23, born in Rajasthan's Ganganagar, and is already being touted as a red-ball specialist as a classical left-arm-spin bowler. His name has been in the news since a breakout 2022-23 Ranji Trophy season where he recorded 39 wickets in six matches for Rajasthan.
Since then, Suthar is moving up by playing for India Emerging and India A in addition to other domestic tournaments. Made his Duleep Trophy debut in 2024 and claimed 7 for 49 on a flat Anantapur pitch. During the Ranji 2025-26 season, he claimed a match-winning 8 for 42 against Chhattisgarh. So far, he has claimed 136 first-class wickets.
In the IPL, he plays for the Gujarat Titans; after spending two years as a net bowler for them he was used for only 5 matches in three seasons and was not much successful as he claimed only two wickets. Luckily, while selecting the Test side, Ajit Agarkar & Co. looked at his red ball performances.
Incidentally, Jagdish Suthar, his father, got him registered in a coaching centre to be developed as a batsman. Within 48 hours, coach Dheeraj Sharma shattered his dream with the message that ‘Sir, this fellow is made to be a spinner. Don’t stop him.’
He is now high on the ladder of India's next-in-line spinners. ‘When I hadn't started playing, I wanted to be like Yuvraj Singh. Even now, he's my all-time favourite, but as a bowler, I love Ashwin Bhaiyya,’ Manav says. He not only idolises R Ashwin but closely studies his variations and his use of the crease as 'For me, it's like he's the perfect idol.'
He was at the 2023 World Cup camp also and troubled even Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. He impressed selectors with his consistent performances for India A, particularly his five-wicket haul against Australia A, a few months back in a four-day match in Lucknow. He recorded figures of 28-4-93-5 on Day 1 to put India A on top.
Just days after his match-winning performance against Afghanistan, he has been roped in by Warwickshire to feature in the next two rounds of the ongoing County Championship season.
