Jagdish Suthar, a retired Physical Education teacher from Rajasthan’s Sri Ganganagar district, had travelled all the way to Mullanpur with his family to watch his elder child Manav make his Test debut for India but left for home without watching his son’s on-field exploits on second day of the match against Afghanistan on Sunday.
Suthar made a brilliant debut as he had the Afghanistan batters tied in knots with figures of 3 for 21 in 15.5 overs.
“Yes, me, my wife and my daughter Mansi (Manav’s younger sister) had come to watch his debut. I can’t describe how it felt seeing him get the Test Cap yesterday. However today we had come back home as we were all nervous and a bit superstitious watching him live in action from the stadium,” the soft-spoken Jagdish Suthar told PTI during an exclusive interaction on the second day of the Test.
A man of few words, Jagdish was very reluctant to take any credit for his son’s success on the cricket field.
“It is completely Manav’s hard work and the hours that he has put into practice. He would leave home for training in the morning and return late in the evening. It is his credit and his childhood coach Dheeraj Sharma to whom we are all indebted. Manav learnt all his cricket under him,” Suthar senior said.
Asked when it was that he found that his son has talent, Suthar said that it wasn’t one fine day that he realised it.
“Like every other child, he was also passionate about cricket. He would play with tennis and rubber ball when he was around six to seven years old. Since I was a PT teacher, I always encouraged my son to play the sport and enjoy. When he was around 10 to 11 years old, I had enrolled him in Dheeraj sir’s academy. After that I just told him, ‘Tujhe jo accha lage, tu kar, mera support humesha tere saath rahega (Whatever you feel like pursuing, do it and I will give you my full support),’” Jagdish added.
Asked if he was concerned about his son’s studies, he replied in the negative.
“Cricket was his focus but he has also completed his graduation,” he informed.
According to Suthar, his son is very reticent and seldom speaks about cricket when he is at home.
“When he is at home, we hardly have conversations on cricket. He doesn’t speak much. We know that he is a big fan of Ravichandran Ashwin and the way he had dominated world cricket during his time,” he concluded.
We were superstitious, hence didn’t come to watch second day’s play: Suthar’s father Jagdish
