Soaring High: How flight and revs helped Manav Suthar dominate on India debut

Manav Suthar on Monday claimed the third-best innings figures by an Indian on debut with a six for 33 that ravaged through Afghanistan’s batting order in their one-off Test in New Chandigarh.

Dheeraj Sharma, who has been training Suthar since he was 12 in Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan, was elated and distraught at once.

On Sunday, he made a 350km journey from the small town in Rajasthan to Chandigarh to watch his ward bowl at an international level for the first time. Yet, he was back at home by the time Suthar etched his name in the record books on Monday morning.

“ Poori dhoom hai abhi yahan toh,” Dheeraj says about their hometown.

“The kid has single-mindedly worked on his game for the last six to seven years. He has performed at every level and this is just the reward of all of that. He is such a disciplined player.

“The BCCI had been tracking him for a very long time, but to play in Tests you have to pay your dues, you have to be mature enough. You know the level of competition for every single place in the team,” Dheeraj says.

There was ample help from the wicket at the PCA Stadium, which was keeping low, throwing up puffs of dust and surprising with the odd instance of extra bounce. Yet, neither Kuldeep Yadav nor Washington Sundar seemed as threatening as Suthar.

Through his domestic grind, Suthar had given ample display of his inclination to flight the ball and make it turn by adding more revs. On his India debut, these two came to his aid.

RELATED | Suthar’s biggest strength is the ability to impart revs on the ball, says Washington

“The wicket was offering some help and my strength is getting the ball to turn. So, my aim was to extract as much turn as possible because the pitch was assisting. At the same time, I wanted to keep bowling in good areas and hit the ideal length consistently, because that was where the help was coming from,” Suthar said after the second day’s play.

But to be able to do that at will, session after session, was a skill honed under Dheeraj.

“Early on, Manav’s action was not aligning properly. The hand was not moving from as close to the ear as it should have. The finish used to be towards the middle and leg. So, we worked on his footwork in the run-up. I made him a corridor from which he had to release the ball. The moment the body aligned, the bounce and the flight came naturally. If the hand comes from close to the ear, it gets a good loopy trajectory. If it is released at an angle, it travels a little flat,” Dheeraj told this publication in 2024.

Suthar’s six wickets helped India bundle out Afghanistan on 152 and impose a follow-on. The pitch will only deteriorate further under the afternoon sun, and Suthar would be relishing the chance to pile on the wickets.

If he gets four more wickets, Suthar would be just the second Indian to claim a 10-fer on debut, after Narendra Hirwani. Before the start of the game, India head coach Gautam Gambhir had said that the team was looking at Suthar or Harsh Dubey as a potential option for the Sri Lanka series.

With just two sessions of bowling, Suthar has probably sealed his ticket to another Test call-up.

“Our discussion was that whenever, wherever you get your chance, you’ll have to grab it. Test cricket is obviously the best place to show your skill set, you get more overs. You know T20 cricket becomes a mix-and-match of a lot of things. But Test cricket is pure skill. And I am glad he’s made it count on his debut,” Dheeraj says.

Published on Jun 08, 2026