India thrash Afghanistan as Manav Suthar shines
Left-armer Manav Suthar’s emergence as the flag-bearer of India’s spin attack in the foreseeable future was the biggest gain for the hosts in their expectedly dominant innings and 300 runs victory over Afghanistan in the one-off Test here on Monday. After being bowled out for 152 in the first innings, courtesy a 6/33 from Suthar, Afghanistan fared much worse in the second essay, getting bundled out for 112 in 35.5 overs midway into the third day to hand India their biggest innings win.
Washington Sundar (4/36) did the star turn in the second innings while Kuldeep Yadav (3/30) also helped himself to some easy pickings. In 2018, India had thrashed the Afghans by an innings and 260 runs, but the visitors would take solace that they could stretch this Test into the third day.
The match belonged to Suthar, a left-arm orthodox spinner from Rajasthan’s Sri Ganganagar. He became the 10th Indian bowler to take a five-for on debut with his overall haul of seven wickets (6/33 and 1/29), but more importantly, he answered the lingering question in the country’s cricketing ecosystem: “Who will take over the baton from Ravindra Jadeja as and when he calls time?”
After the match against Afghanistan, Suthar showed all the requisite attributes to succeed at the highest level. The biggest among them is the consistency of landing the ball in the same spot.
Add the speed at which he bowls and the number of revolutions that he imparts while putting his whole body behind each delivery, and Suthar is a complete package.
India has had bowlers who were wicket-takers on turners, but the 23-year-old has shown that he can be a match-winner on placid surfaces by extracting both turn and bounce. With Ravichandran Ashwin already retired and Jadeja in the twilight of his Test career, Suthar’s emergence couldn’t have happened at a better time. He will face a far bigger Test in Sri Lanka, where the quality of batting will be way better, but the Indian team management can think of slowly phasing Jadeja out by the end of this World Test Championship cycle.
