Mohammad Saleem became Afghanistan’s third bowler to claim a five-wicket haul in Test cricket before Indian debutant Manav Suthar hogged the limelight by the end of Day 2 of their one-off Test.
It was a long day for the Afghans, both with the ball and bat, as India declared their innings at 564/8 after reaching their highest total in the format against the opposition. While Saleem ended with 6/140, Suthar closed the day with 3/21 to help India restrict the visitors to 113/5 at stumps on Day 2. He became the eighth Indian to claim a wicket in his first over on Test debut.
Suthar’s classical left-arm spin bowling aligned with a perfectly placed field to make his debut a memorable one. His run-up and release of the ball are similar to those of former Indian spinner Maninder Singh. He bowled with a diagonal run-up to right-handers, cutting between the umpire and stumps. A high release point and multiple variations forced the ball to remain in the air before drifting a bit towards off stump.
Brought into the attack fairly early, Suthar got into action straightway in his first over. He removed opener Abdul Malik, who wanted to sweep his way out but his attempt ended up in the safe hands of Mohammed Siraj.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz ended up being his second victim, while trying to sweep a drifting ball. Suthar lured him with some straight balls, before bowling a low drifting one which took a massive edge and landed in the hands of Sai Sudharsan.
Suthar’s third and final wicket of the day came when the ball stopped and bounced with Afsar Zazai closing the face of the bat and the loopy leading edge resulted in an easy return catch.
He bowled unchanged for 13 overs from one end while the skipper Shubman Gill shuffled between Siraj, Prasidh Krishna and Kuldeep Yadav from the other end. Krishna returned with 2/27, including the prized wicket of skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi.
Earlier, Rishabh Pant silenced his critics with a stroke-filled 81 but a century could have been a cherry on the top. Pant played his signature strokes while treating each ball on its merit during his 121-ball innings. He was dismissed trying to hit debutant left-arm spinner Nangeyalia Kharote for a six.
In the first hour of the second day, Gill fell for 126 off 177 balls. Dhruv Jurel could not carry on after a quick start. Washington Sundar and Suthar then added 54 runs for the seventh wicket to take the team past the 500-mark. As Sundar completed his half-century, the Indian batters were called back to the hut.
Saleem made the most of his opportunity having missed action last year due to a groin injury. The 24-year-old produced a lion-hearted effort in scorching heat, dismissing Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sudharsan, Gill, Jurel, Suthar and Siraj to pick a five-wicket haul in his second Test.
