India defeated Afghanistan by an innings and 300 runs after Manav Suthar made a fantastic Test debut, taking six wickets in the first innings before Washington Sundar claimed four wickets in their second innings on Day 3 of the one-off Test on Monday.
After India scored a massive 564/8 in their first innings, Afghanistan was dismissed for 112, which was worse than their 152 in the first innings.
India’s best bowler was debutant Manav Suthar, who claimed 6/33 in 22 overs during the first innings. In Afghanistan’s second innings, Washington Sundar claimed four wickets. Suthar’s match figures at the end were 7/62.
Earlier, Afghanistan was bowled out for a pitiful 152 on Day 3, with Suthar making a spectacular debut by taking six wickets. Afghanistan huffed and puffed their way to 18 for no loss at lunch after India enforced the follow-on, with 394 runs remaining to escape an embarrassing innings defeat.
It was unfortunate that there were only about 500 spectators when the nation’s latest spin bowling sensation achieved a unique milestone by becoming the 10th Indian to take five wickets in his debut. In his first Test, he became the seventh spinner to get to the milestone.
His ultimate first-inning stats, which were 22-10-33-6, also demonstrated the constant pressure he applied to the inexperienced Afghan batters, none of whom appeared at ease while attempting to protect him.
It was inevitable that he would finish with a five-for after making an impression on the second afternoon with his trajectory and ability to extract turn from a slowish track. The only batter to provide some fight for the visitors was veteran Rahmat Shah (60 off 135 balls), who fell all over while attempting to play a slog sweep, becoming Suthar’s fifth victim.
After Azmatullah Omarzai (0) played on with a 140 kmph delivery by Prasidh Krishna (3/37 in 11 overs), Rahmat and injured Sharafuddin Ashraf (11) batted for about 11 overs. Rahmat occasionally had to turn down simple singles that could have kept the scoreboard moving as Ashraf staggered due to what appeared to be a hamstring issue.
When Ashraf came forward and the delivery turned enough to kiss the outside edge into Rishabh Pant’s gloves, he became Suthar’s fourth victim.
Rahmat, the first Afghan batsman to reach 1000 Test runs on the second day, blasted nine boundaries aside from a six, but he didn’t appear at ease against Suthar, who would consistently land the ball in the same position again and over.
