IND vs AFG: Manav Suthar’s blast in the debut test, ended 25 years of drought by taking a wicket in the very first over

23-year-old Suthar got a chance to make his Test debut against Afghanistan and he immediately justified the faith of the captain and the team management. During Afghanistan’s innings, he gave India its first success by dismissing opener Abdul Malik on the fourth ball of his very first over.

Abdul Malik tried to play a sweep shot on Suthar’s ball, but the ball took the upper edge of the bat and went into the air. Mohammad Siraj, who was fielding, took an easy catch and the first wicket of Test cricket was registered in Suthar’s account.

With this achievement, Manav Suthar made a place in a very special club of Indian cricket. Before him, Tinu Yohannan had taken a wicket in the first over of his Test career against England in 2001. That means, after about 24 years, an Indian bowler has achieved the feat of taking a wicket in the first over of the debut test.

The first name in the list of bowlers who have achieved this feat for India is that of Montu Banerjee, who made this record against West Indies in 1948. After this, Manohar Hardikar (1958), Vaman Kumar (1961), Chetan Sharma (1984), WV Raman (1988), Nilesh Kulkarni (1997), Tinu Yohannan (2001) and now Manav Suthar have joined this list.

Suthar did not stop here, he soon got his second wicket as well. He gave a big blow to the opposition team by dismissing Afghanistan’s aggressive wicketkeeper batsman Rahmanullah Gurbaz. In this way, he demonstrated his talent brilliantly by taking two wickets in the debut match itself.

India had declared a huge score of 564/8 in the first innings and thereafter Suthar’s brilliant bowling helped the team take a firm hold on the match. This performance of the young spinner is being considered a positive sign for the future of Indian cricket.