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Historic performance by debutant spinner Manav Suthar, taking 7 wickets in his first test and 6 wickets in the first innings. As he said after the match, it was unreal.
Team India defeated Afghanistan by an innings and 300 runs in New Chandigarh. They outclassed the visitors in all departments to claim a historic win. This is India’s biggest win by margin in this format.
Human improvers take themselves to an exclusive list
Manav Suthar won the Player of the Match award for his brilliant bowling. In the first innings, he took only 6 wickets for 33 runs, which was enough to eliminate Afghanistan from the contest. The Indian batsmen also did a great job of putting the opposing team under pressure.
With the help of centuries from KL Rahul and captain Shubman Gill, India scored 564 runs in the first innings of the one-off Test. In reply, Afghanistan could score only 152 runs and 112 runs in the first and second innings respectively.
There are only a few Indian players who have won the Player of the Match award in their debut match. After Praveem Amre, RP Singh, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Prithvi Shaw, Shreyas Iyer and Yashasvi Jaiswal, it is Manav Suthar who has nominated himself in the elite list.
POM Award in Debut Test Match (Indian):
1992 – Praveen Amre
2006 – RP Singh
2011 – Ravichandran Ashwin
2013 – Shikhar Dhawan
2013 – Rohit Sharma
2018 – Prithvi Shaw
2021 – Shreyas Iyer
2023 – Yashasvi Jaiswal
2026 – Human improvement*
It was a very surreal feeling: Suthar
Suthar said that it has been his dream to play Test cricket for the country, especially in the Test format. It was a surreal experience for him as he was named player of the match.
Manav Suthar said, “It was a very surreal feeling. It has been my dream since the beginning to play for India and play Test cricket. So it was an incredible moment for me and to be honest, it felt quite unreal.”
Suthar explains how he takes 7 wickets
He further said that when he went to bat, he felt that the pitch had something for the bowlers. After this, when he went to bowl his first over, he also had the same feeling and then he continued bowling while maintaining proper line, length and pace.
Manav Suthar said, “Even when I went out to bat, I felt quite comfortable. As I settled in and faced a few balls, I realized that there was little support for the spinners on the wicket. Then, when I came to bowl and bowled my first over, I felt the same. After that, my only focus was to use the right line, length and pace.”
Along with the trophy, Suthar also learned some valuable lessons from this match. As a bowler, he learned that the most important thing is to be patient and keep bowling in the same area continuously.
Suthar concluded, “The biggest lesson is that consistency is everything. You have to keep bowling in the same areas again and again. I think that’s the most important thing in Test cricket. It’s a format that demands a lot of patience.”
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