New Delhi: The journey from dreaming of playing Test cricket for India to winning the Player of the Match award on debut could not have been scripted better. The 23-year-old left-arm spinner from Rajasthan donned the baggy blue for the first time, becoming India’s 319th men’s Test cricketer, and made an immediate impact as India beat Afghanistan by an innings and 300 runs in the only Test at Milanpore – the country’s biggest Test victory.Sathar played a central role in the dominant win, returning sensational figures of 6/33 in Afghanistan’s first innings and adding another wicket in the second innings to end the match by seven wickets. He also scored a valuable 28 runs in India’s first innings.As India posted 564/8 thanks to centuries from KL Rahul and skipper Shubman Gill, Afghanistan had no answer to Soothor’s accuracy and control. The left-armer tore through the visitors’ batting line-up and became only the 10th Indian overall and the seventh spinner to take five wickets on Test debut.His figures of 6/33 are also the best by an Indian bowler on Test debut in 38 years.
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Suther’s match-winning effort earned him the Player of the Match award, making him only the ninth Indian cricketer to win the award on men’s Test debut.The elite list includes Parveen Amre, RP Singh, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Prithvi Shaw, Shreyas Iyer and Yashwi Jaiswal.
Indians who won Player of the Match on Men’s Test Debut:
- Parveen Amre (vs South Africa, 1992)
- RP Singh (vs Pakistan, 2006)
- Ravichandran Ashwin (vs West Indies, 2011)
- Shikhar Dhawan (vs Australia, 2013)
- Rohit Sharma (vs West Indies, 2013)
- Prithvi Shaw (vs West Indies, 2018)
- Shreyas Iyer (vs New Zealand, 2021)
- Yashasvi Jaiswal (vs West Indies, 2023)
- Manav Sattar (vs Afghanistan, 2026)
Consistency is everything for Manusuther.
After receiving the Player of the Match award, Sattar reflected on the biggest lesson from his first Test appearance.“The biggest lesson is that consistency is everything. You have to keep bowling in the same area again and again. I think that’s the most important thing in Test cricket. It’s a format that requires a lot of patience,” Sattar said at the presentation event.“That’s what I’ve learned, be patient, stick to your plans and keep hitting the right areas,” he said.For Sattar, this opportunity was much more than wickets and records. The youngster admitted that fulfilling his dream of playing Test cricket for India is still sinking in.“It was a very surreal feeling. It’s been my dream since the beginning to play for India and to play Test cricket. So it was an incredible moment for me and it felt quite surreal to be honest.”
How batting helped Manusother’s bowling
Interestingly, Sattar revealed that his short stay at the crease helped him understand the situation before taking the ball in hand.Even when I went out to bat, I felt quite comfortable. As I faced a few balls, I realized that there was little support for the spinners on the wicket.“Then, when I came to bowl and bowled my first over, I felt the same way. After that, my focus was just to keep using the right line, length and pace.”The left-arm spinner said he didn’t try to fancy anything in the beginning and instead backed his strengths.“Initially, my focus was on understanding how the wicket was playing. That’s why I wanted to rely on my stock delivery as much as possible.”“Once I realized that the wicket was a bit slow and needed some change in pace, I started making those adjustments. But the main idea was always to make my stock ball as effective as possible.”
