‘We were superstitious, didn’t come to watch second day’s play’

Jagdish Suthar, a retired Physical Education teacher from Rajasthan’s Sri Ganganagar district, had travelled all the way to Mullanpur with his family to watch his elder child Manav make his Test debut for India, but left for home without watching his son’s on-field exploits on the second day of the match against Afghanistan on Sunday.

Suthar made a brilliant debut as he had the Afghanistan batters tied in knots with figures of 3 for 21 in 15.5 overs.

“Yes, my wife, my daughter, and Mansi (Manav’s younger sister) had come to watch his debut. I can’t describe how it felt seeing him get the Test Cap yesterday. However, today we had come back home as we were all nervous and a bit superstitious watching him live in action from the stadium,” the soft-spoken Jagdish Suthar told PTI during an exclusive interaction on the second day of the Test.

A man of few words, Jagdish was very reluctant to take any credit for his son’s success on the cricket field, which has now culminated in donning the national colours. “It is completely Manav’s hard work and the hours that he has put into practice. He would leave home for training in the morning and return late in the evening. It is his credit and his childhood coach, Dheeraj Sharma, to whom we are all indebted. Manav learnt all his cricket under him,” Suthar senior said. Asked when did he actually found that his son has talent, the father said that it wasn’t like one fine day that he realised it.

“Like every other child, he was also passionate about cricket. He would play with tennis and a rubber ball when he was around six to seven years old. Since I was a PT teacher, I always encouraged my son to play the sport and enjoy it. When he was around 10 to 11 years old, I had enrolled him in Dheeraj Sir’s academy.

After that, I just told him, “Tujhe jo accha lage, tu kar, mera support humesha tere saath rahega (Whatever you feel like pursuing, do it, and I will give you my full support, Jagdish added. Asked if he was concerned about his son’s studies, he replied in the negative. “Cricket was his focus, but he has also completed his graduation,” he informed. According to the father, the son is a very reticent and seldom speaks about cricket when he is at home.