Manav Suthar embarked on his India career with a stellar debut in Test cricket as he took a six-wicket haul during the one-off Test match against Afghanistan. Suthar displayed brilliant accuracy, guile and skills to hog the limelight as India went on to win the one-off Test by a record margin of an innings and 300 runs, their biggest victory in the format.
Suthar starred with 6/33 in his 20 overs in the first innings as he troubled the Afghanistan batters with his accurate bowling, the drift, speed and turn. He became the fifth Indian to have scalped a six-wicket haul on debut.ย
Suthar creates history
Not only with the ball, but Suthar also impressed many with the bat and on the field. He scored a quickfire 28 from 41 balls in the only innings India batted as they posted a huge 564/8d. He hit a couple of sixes and a couple of fours in his stroke-filled innings. The Rajasthan all-rounder also took three catches across the two innings.
Meanwhile, Suthar has become just the fourth player in the history of Test cricket to have achieved a rare triple of having scored 25 or more runs, having taken five or more wickets and having taken three or more catches. Before him, only Albert Trott, Alex Kennedy and Joel Garner had achieved this troika of records on debut.ย
The former Englishman Trott had achieved the feat during his debut against Australia at Adelaide in 1895. Former England all-rounder Alex Kennedy did so during his debut against South Africa at Johannesburg in 1922, while ex-West Indies speedster achieved the feat during his debut in 1977 against Pakistan in the Bridgetown Test. It has been 49 years since then that no player has achieved this historic feat. Going by Test matches, this feat has been achieved in the 1824th Test match since that game between West Indies and Pakistan in Bridgetown.ย
Suthar bags Player of the Match for his exploits
Meanwhile, Suthar bagged the Player of the Match Award on his debut. He bagged seven wickets across the two innings, with 6/33ย in the first innings. Suthar has become just the ninth Indian to have won the Player of the Match Award on Test debut,ย joining the likes of Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin, among others.
Indians to win Player of the Match Awards on Test debut:
1992 – Pravin Amre
2006 – RP Singhย
2011 – Ravi Ashwin
2013 – Shikhar Dhawanย
2013 – Rohit Sharmaย
2018 – Prithvi Shaw
2021 – Shreyas Iyerย
2023 – Yashasvi Jaiswalย
2026 – Manav Suthar
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