Ten wickets in a Test can announce a spinner. What comes next determines whether it was a moment or the beginning of something much bigger.
After Manav Suthar’s remarkable performance in Galle, where he returned with match-figures of 10 for 131 and helped India win the first of the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka by 165 runs, former India spinner Maninder Singh believes the 24-year-old belongs firmly in the second category – and his assessment goes considerably further than simply identifying him as India’s next promising left-arm spinner.
Speaking exclusively to Sports Now, Maninder backed Suthar to become a long-term fixture for India, even making the striking prediction that when India travel overseas and conditions allow them to field only one specialist spinner, Suthar could eventually be that man. For someone who has played only two Test matches for India, it is an extraordinary endorsement.
It is that combination which prompted Maninder to make arguably the biggest prediction of the conversation: Suthar could eventually become India’s lone spinner when the team travels abroad.
“See, what I’ve seen so far, if he keeps his head on his shoulders, he’s going to be-if you’re going to go on tours abroad and you’re going to play one spinner, it is going to be Manav Suthar. He’s somebody who’ll get you wickets on good tracks also. And the reason why I say this is because I like his attitude. He’s got a beautiful run-up, nice action, nice follow-through. He’s somebody who can give you 30-35 overs in a day as well, and he won’t get tired. It’s so rhythmic,” the former India left-arm spinner said.
Maninder, however, resists framing Suthar as the “next Jadeja”. To him, that comparison risks overlooking what makes the youngster distinctive.
“One should never compare anybody with anybody because Manav Suthar is a different breed altogether. He’s somebody who, we used to see in olden days, likes to fly the ball. He’s somebody who will not need a turning track to turn the ball. He’s somebody who will turn the ball on a good track as well, on a flat track as well. He’s a good fielder as well. And we were talking about succession and who’s going to succeed Ashwin and then Jadeja. I think he’s the one. He’s the one who could serve India for a long time,” he explained.
Galle can make a spinner look dangerous. Lord’s, Melbourne, and Centurion ask a very different question. The 61-year-old, however, is convinced that there is enough evidence there to suggest that he can threaten batters even when assistance is minimal.
“I’ll be very honest. What I saw in the first Test match, and I’m sure he played a couple of IPL games as well where he couldn’t bowl his quota of four overs. But I was impressed with him there also. That action, that release of the ball, the way the ball comes out of the hand, the seam position. I think everything was just perfect. I have a feeling he’ll be someone who plays all the formats. Whatever I’ve seen, I’m very impressed,” Maninder predicted.
“He’s got that quality also. He’s not somebody who will be turning everything. As I said earlier, he’s somebody who will turn the ball on good pitches. I mean, seeing that action and that run-up and that follow-through, I get that feeling.”
may have introduced him to a much wider audience, but it was hardly an overnight emergence. His domestic numbers and performances had already been building a persuasive case. He was the highest wicket-taker for Rajasthan in the 2022-23 Ranji Trophy season, taking 39 wickets in six matches at an average of 20.33. This was followed by another impressive outing in the 2023 ACC Men’s Emerging Cup, where he finished the tournament as the joint second-highest wicket-taker (10). In one of the Duleep Trophy encounters in 2024, he returned with figures of 7 for 49.
With such performances under his belt, could Suthar have been brought into Test cricket earlier? Maninder gives his own example to cite why he thinks otherwise.
“I don’t think it’s late. Because when I played that early, I later on realised that if I had played a couple of seasons of first-class cricket, I would have been in a better frame of mind to play international cricket. Because I would have seen the ups and downs there and then dealt with them accordingly. So I think this is the right time to have introduced him. He’s got wickets behind him; he’s got that confidence behind him, which is very important when you’re playing international cricket. And he’s taken the pressure brilliantly,” he reckoned.
While he has not taken the Indian Premier League (IPL) by storm for Gujarat Titans, his figures of 1 for 19 (2) vs RCB and 1 for 22 (3) vs CSK this season are enough to suggest that the 24-year-old has all the ingredients to be an all-format bowler for India.
Galle may have been the venue for Manav Suthar’s first great Test performance. If Maninder Singh’s reading of the young spinner proves correct, it could ultimately be remembered as something more important: the afternoon discovered the bowler around whom its next generation of spin could be built.