Manav Suthar had his dream Test debut moment come true as he dismissed Abdul Malik in the first over of his spell. Suthar, who received his Test cap ahead of the one-off Test against Afghanistan went on to take the wicket of Malik to record his first ever dismissal in the international cricketing platform. Notably, India is currently hosting neighbours Afghanistan in a multi-format tour which kicked off with a one-off Test in Mullanpur in New Chandigarh on June 6.
Before the game, Suthar received his Test cap from Kuldeep Yadav and with that, he became the first specialist spinner to debut for India in Test since Axar Patel’s debut in 2021. Suthar, an all-rounder from Rajasthan, made the most of the opportunity and went on to record his first ever wicket in the first over by forcing Malik to walk back to the pavilion. On the fourth ball of the sixth over, Malik shuffled across and played a sweep to Suthar’s spin, and ended up getting a top-edge.
As the ball lobbed behind the wicket, Rahul ran to his left from slip while Mohammed Siraj ran from backward square. While there was almost miscommunication between the duo, Siraj managed to hang on low. Malik was forced to walk back off 16 runs in just 18 deliveries with a combination of three boundaries.
Manav Suthar dismisses Rahmanullah Gurbaz for second Test wicket
Later on the second ball of the 20th over, Suthar went on to pick the crucial wicket of Rahmanullah Gurbaz. The Afghan batter aimed to defend Suthar’s delivery but got outside edge towards the second slip. Sai Sudharsan, who was stationed there took a sharp low catch to force Gurbaz to take the long way back to the dressing room at just 12 runs in 40 deliveries.
Notably, batting first, the hosts put up a mammoth total of 564 runs with the loss of eight wickets in 127 overs. Opener KL Rahul and skipper Shubman came up with their respective centuries while Sai Sudharsan, Rishabh Pant and Washington Sundar played crucial knocks of 81, 81, and 52* runs respectively to give the home side an upper hand. In return, Afghanistan got off to a disappointing start and kept losing their wickets one after the other to get reduced to 93-3 by the end of the 29th over.
