Manav Suthar (BCCI photo)

New Delhi: It was nothing short of a dream debut for Manav Suthar as the young left-arm spinner made an immediate impact for India on the second day of the one-off Test against Afghanistan at the Maharaja Yadvendra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur, New Chandigarh.captain Shubman Gill Just before tea on the second day, he bowled a red cherry to Suthar and gave the debutant his first spell in Test cricket. It didn’t take long for the 23-year-old to make his mark.Suthar hit a four on the fourth ball of his Test career. Abdul Malik attempted to sweep but could only get a top edge, with Mohammed Siraj diving beyond backward square leg to complete a sharp catch.As soon as Suthar got his first Test wicket, the wicket started celebrating. Teammates rushed in with hugs and high-fives, while the spinner soaked in the moment he’ll always remember.This success was not only memorable – it was historic.By striking in the very first over of his Test career, Suthar became the eighth Indian cricketer to take a wicket in the very first over of his first Test match. Remarkably, he joins a list that is almost eight decades old and includes just seven other names in Indian cricket history.The elite club includes Montu Banerjee (vs West Indies, 1948), Manohar Hardikar (vs West Indies, 1958), Waman Kumar (vs Pakistan, 1961), Chetan Sharma (vs Pakistan, 1984), WV Raman (vs West Indies, 1988), Nilesh Kulkarni (vs Sri Lanka, 1997) and Tinu Yohannan (vs England, 2001) are included.What makes Suthar’s achievement even more special is that no Indian had achieved this feat for 25 years since Yohannan dismissed Marcus Trescothick in his very first over against England in 2001.Selected ahead of fellow spin-bowling all-rounder Harsh Dubey, Suthar almost immediately justified the team management’s faith in him. Before the match, he received Test cap number 319 from senior spinner Kuldeep Yadav, becoming India’s first specialist spin-bowling Test debutant since Axar Patel’s debut in 2021.

Indians have to take a wicket in their first over in the men’s Test