The left-arm spinner Manav Suthar made a brilliant performance during his test debut, picking a six-wicket haul, guiding India to dismiss Afghanistan for 152 runs and enforce the follow-on on day 03 in the one-off test played at New Chandigarh.
He returned with figures of 6/33 in 22 overs, becoming the tenth bowler and seventh spinner from the country to claim a five-wicket haul on Test debut.
This will be a second best performance by an Indian bowler on debut, behind Narendra Hirwani’s 8/61 against the West Indies in 1988.
He also became the second India bowler after Amit Mishra to pick five-wickets in his maiden test innings.
Resuming the game on day 03, where Afghanistan lost 5 wickets for 113 runs, they struggled against India’s lethal bowling attack.
Prasidh Krishna bagged the wicket of Azmatullah Omarzai for the duck before Manav Suthar dominated the ground. Suthar bagged three wickets on day 02 and picked the wickets of Sharafuddin Ashraf and Rahmat Shah to complete his five-wicket haul. He added the sixth wicket by dismissing Mohammad Saleem for a duck.
India scored 564 runs in their first innings after a stunning century from KL Rahul and a stunning century from Shubman Gill, and stunning knocks from Sai Sudharsan, Rishabh Pant and Washington Sundar.
India secured a 412-run lead on first innings and enforced the follow-on immediately. Head coach Gautam Gambhir and support staff applauded Manav Suthar’s impressive effort when he returned to the dressing room.
You only get one debut, and Manav Suthar made sure history remembers it 🤍
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— BCCI (@BCCI) June 8, 2026
Manav Suthar attributed consistent performance in domestic cricket, which earned callup for his test debut against Afghanistan.
In 29 first-class matches, he has taken 129 wickets at an average of 25.76 and scored 1026 runs at 25.65. Although appearing in only three Ranji Trophy matches last season, he picked 18 wickets, including an 8-wicket haul against Chhattisgarh.
He was impressive with an all-rounder performance against Himachal Pradesh, scoring 120 runs and taking seven wickets. His eight-wicket haul in an official test match against Australia further strengthened his case for national selection.
