Who is Manav Suthar, India’s new spin wizard?

Manav Suthar has exploded onto the international Test arena and how!

The 24-year-old left-arm orthodox spinner – India skipper Shubman Gill believes he is an all-rounder no less – spun a web around the Sri Lanka batters during the first Test in Galle, claiming 10-131, including three wickets in an over in his second-innings effort of 6-55, to hand India a much-needed 165-run win.

Mind you, fifth-placed India went into the first Test aware that they needed to win at least 7 out of the next 9 Test matches to stand any chance of making the WTC finals.

And given the expected spin-friendly conditions, they also went in with three spinners, two left-arm orthodox spinners in Ravindra Jadeja and Suthar and a left-arm unorthodox spinner in Kuldeep Yadav. While Jadeja finished with 4 wickets, Yadav could manage only 1.

Suthar’s sensational bowling performance is not really a surprise though, given his display against Afghanistan during the first Test of his career in June this year. He picked up seven wickets, including taking 6-33 in his debut innings, meaning he has now taken an incredible 17 wickets in 2 Tests, including two fifers.

Suthar has been fully backed by his Gujarat Titans and India skipper Gill, who believes that besides his bowling abilities, he also has enough batting skills to fill the No. 8 role and provide batting depth in the absence of the team's usual all-round options, saying that the left-arm spinner has the potential to develop into a quality batter in the longest format.

Suthar’s ability with the bat, Gill noted, could give the side the required balance. "He's got the ability with the bat, and we know he can perform. At this level, you need a bit of experience, belief, and confidence, and that will only come once you're out there playing and scoring runs. Hopefully, he does that in this series. He has great skill with his bowling and the potential to be a really good number eight batsman as well," the skipper said prior to the first Test.

Incidentally, the bowling all-rounder scored 33 runs in this Test, while Gill managed 24.

As for Suthar, who used the time between the Afghanistan Test and the Sri Lanka series to play two matches for Warwickshire in the County Championship where he finished with 11 wickets, including a maiden fifer, having someone like Jadeja at the other end has been a big help.

"There are a lot of things that I can learn from him (Jadeja). He uses the (bowling) crease so well. His consistency while bowling at stumps is world-class. So, I would like to learn from him that no matter what the batsman is doing," Suthar said at the end of Day 3.

The young spinner revealed that he also learned virtues like patience and sticking to a stump-to-stump line while bowling long spells. "How long can one bowl on the stumps? Can you get a false shot? So there's a lot to learn from him," he added.

The crafty operator also took notes on how the Sri Lankan spinners bowled on the Galle pitch over the first two days, picking up aspects like how to vary pace and get purchase from the strip.

"They bowled well. They varied their pace, and I feel that on this wicket, the more consistent you are, the more purchase you get. So that's what we were trying to do," he said.

With his exploits in Galle, Suthar has now etched his name in history, surpassing legends Harbhajan Singh (10/153 at Galle in 2008) and Ravichandran Ashwin (10/160 at Galle in 2015) to become the bowler with best figures in Sri Lanka. He also became the third Indian bowler after these two to register a ten-wicket haul in Sri Lanka.

While his Test journey has only just begun, the boy from Rajasthan has already delivered on the potential that Gill and the team management saw in him to fast-track him into the side.

"He has been bowling magnificently, even in the first match that he played in India (vs Afghanistan), and in this match. He looks like a very promising guy and someone who can play for India for a very long time,” Gill said after the match.