Debutant left-arm spinner Manav Suthar delivered a dream performance, claiming a six-wicket haul as India bowled out Afghanistan for 152 and enforced the follow-on on Day 3 of the one-off Test at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in New Chandigarh on Monday.
Resuming the day at 113/5 in reply to India’s imposing first-innings total of 564/8 declared, Afghanistan offered brief resistance through Rahmat Shah, who top-scored with 60. However, the visitors lost their remaining five wickets for just 39 runs and were bundled out in 58.4 overs.
Prasidh Krishna provided India with an early breakthrough on Monday morning, dismissing Azmatullah Omarzai for a duck after the batter chopped the ball onto his stumps. Rahmat and Sharafuddin Ashraf then added 24 runs for the seventh wicket to frustrate the hosts before Suthar broke the stand by trapping Ashraf leg-before for 11.
Rahmat brought up his sixth Test half-century before becoming Suthar’s fifth victim of the innings. The spinner then struck again three deliveries later, trapping Mohammad Saleem lbw for a duck to complete a remarkable six-wicket haul on Test debut. He finished with figures of 6/33, becoming only the fifth Indian bowler and the first since Ravichandran Ashwin in 2011 to take six wickets in an innings on Test debut.
Washington Sundar wrapped up the innings by dismissing last man Ziaur Rahman for six.
Asked to bat again after conceding a deficit of 412 runs, Afghanistan reached 18 without loss at lunch in their second innings. Sediqullah Atal was unbeaten on 16, while Abdul Malik was batting on two as the visitors still trailed India by 394 runs.
