“Test cricket patience ka khel hai,” said Manav Suthar, soaking in a moment he had dreamed of for years.
From the grounds of Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan to the biggest stage in the game, the 23-year-old’s journey culminated in a debut to remember. Suthar announced himself with a seven-wicket haul on his debut against Afghanistan, with figures of 6/33, which is now the second-best figures by an Indian in his debut innings after Narendra Hirwani.
The sense of fulfilment was evident as he collected the Player of the Match award. For someone who has long been a devoted student of Test cricket, Suthar’s biggest takeaway from his first outing in India colours was remarkably simple: consistency.
“You have to keep bowling in the same area over and over again.
I think that’s the most important thing in Test cricket. It’s a format that demands a lot of patience. That’s what I’ve learned – keep being patient, stick to your plans and keep hitting the right areas consistently,” Suthar said at the post-match presentation.
The art of repeatedly landing the ball in the same area-commonly known as ‘spot bowling ’-wasn’t mastered overnight. It was forged through years of relentless training at SK Bihani Cricket Academy, run by the Sri Ganganagar District Cricket Association, under coach Dheeraj Sharma.
“In our training sessions, we used to divide practice into different segments. One complete session would be dedicated solely to spot bowling,” Sharma told News18 CricketNext. “We’d focus on the spinner’s ideal line and length, roughly three meters from the stumps, and repeatedly target that area.”
Interestingly, Suthar’s cricketing journey did not begin with the ball in hand.
When he first joined Sharma’s coaching programme at the age of 12, he was a batter. Barely two weeks later, however, he was advised to take up bowling- a decision that would eventually shape his career as a slow left-arm orthodox spinner.
“From that point onward, we focused heavily on his bowling. He played Under-16 cricket for Rajasthan and was already bowling with good fundamentals. Alongside that, he improved his alignment and action significantly,” Sharma added.
From there, there was no looking back.
Suthar first made heads turn with India U-19, notably claiming a match-winning five-wicket haul in the 2019 Youth ODI series against Afghanistan. He progressed through the Under-23 ranks before enjoying a breakthrough 2022-23 season.
Across formats, he picked up 90 wickets, including 39 in just six Ranji Trophy matches for Rajasthan, with three five-wicket hauls to his name. Performances like those soon made him a regular in India A, Emerging India and IPL setups.
“His skill set was particularly suited to red-ball cricket. Even during white-ball tournaments like one-day competitions, he prepared with the white ball but trained mostly with the red ball,” Sharma said.
“His fundamentals were built through red-ball cricket, and that remains the foundation of his bowling.”
Those fundamentals were on full display over two scorching days in New Chandigarh.
Time and again, Suthar returned to his ‘perfect tappa’, refusing to be drawn away from his strengths. Equally impressive was his ability to alter pace without compromising control.
His quicker deliveries touched 95 kmph, while the slower ones hovered in the mid-80s, averaging 89.9 kmph.
In the first innings alone, 55 per cent of his 132 deliveries landed on a good length, while another 40 per cent were pitched full. Afghanistan never quite solved the equation and were eventually swept aside.
Sharma explained why a spinner can never afford to compromise on his length.
“No matter what level of cricket you, agar apka tappa idhar-udhar hua, to aapko spot bowling par aana hi padta hai [spot bowling will only help if you struggle with hitting the right areas]. Consistency peaks with this formula,” Sharma said.
“In white-ball cricket, you need to take wickets while also controlling runs. So, you need more variations, different angles, different release points, and tactical options.
“In Test cricket, however, success comes from repeatedly bowling in the same area. If your length is even slightly off, you eventually have to return to basic spot-bowling practice to regain consistency,” he added.
If Suthar’s bowling is poetry in motion, his diagonal action is its rhyme scheme.
It is the mechanism that allows him to repeatedly hit the same areas, drawing batters into errors through patience and precision. Yet even that required refinement in his formative years.
“We worked extensively on his alignment. Once the alignment became correct, the ball started travelling much straighter and more consistently. Proper alignment is a huge factor in spin bowling,” Sharma said.
“Mostly the round-arm bowlers, like Jadeja and Axar, the ball travels inwards after they release it. But in Manav’s case, he could drift the ball. And the delivery that doesn’t drift travels straighter before turning. That’s where the alignment works for him.”
There was unmistakable satisfaction in Sharma’s voice as he reflected on his pupil’s rise and the hard yards that came before the spotlight.
Back in 2022, then-selector Chetan Sharma travelled specifically to watch Suthar during a Ranji Trophy match in Jodhpur. The left-arm spinner responded with eight wickets against Puducherry.
The performances kept coming. He picked up wickets across domestic tournaments, including the Duleep Trophy. Reports suggest he came close to earning a Test call-up for the West Indies tour last year, but Ravindra Jadeja’s successful England series ensured the veteran retained his place in the team.
You get neither more than your destiny, nor before your time.
The one-off Test against Afghanistan proved to be Suthar’s moment. Not only did he strengthen his case as India’s fourth spinner for the Sri Lanka tour in August, but he also produced the kind of performance selectors simply cannot ignore.
“He really bowled well; he is a very good prospect because he has been playing for 2-3 years – India A, India Emerging and all. So, great opportunity for him and he bowled so well; in fact, he also did well in batting, that is actually very satisfying,” India batting coach Sitanshu Kotak said after the victory.
“But I feel that the structure of BCCI is such that from Ranji, obviously from age group to Ranji, from Ranji to Emerging, from Emerging to India A and India A to India and in between IPL, it is a great exposure for all the players and obviously Manav Suthar is one of them who has been performing continuously for the last 3-4 years. So, good luck to him,” he added.
Good luck, indeed.
Suthar’s rise has been anything but overnight. It has been built delivery by delivery, spell by spell, season by season. Test cricket humbles those who lack patience, gives patience to those who lack restraint and reveals itself only to those willing to wait long enough for its secrets.
In New Chandigarh, after years of waiting, it revealed a few of them to Manav Suthar.
