Suthar six-for rolls Afghanistan over for 152
Suthar Six-For Rolls Afghanistan Over for 152
Afghanistan 152 (Rahmat 60, Suthar 6-33, Prasidh 3-37) trail India 564 for 8 dec (Gill 126, Rahul 100, Saleem 6-140) by 412 runs
Manav Suthar was bowling on a different pitch. His promising debut last afternoon, when he plucked up three wickets, turned into a dream extended spell on day three in New Chandigarh. He finished with 6 for 33 as India bundled out Afghanistan for 152 and enforced the follow-on.
Afghanistan’s Resistance
For the first hour and a half, Rahmat Shah headlined Afghanistan’s resistance before lunch. They needed to get to 365 to make India bat again. That mark seemed some distance away, even as he brought up a stoic half-century off 100 balls. Once Suthar bowled him around his legs while he attempted an expansive sweep – he was the eighth wicket to fall – India wrapped up the innings in less than two overs.
Suthar’s Dominance
On another day of high temperatures, the pitch flattened out for other bowlers, not offering much spin to Washington Sundar and Kuldeep Yadav as the session progressed. However, Suthar himself had resumed the day with one ball left in his over. He got the ball to grip and turn right away, despite keeping to speeds of 90 kph throughout the session.
He plucked out Sharafuddin Ashraf, spinning one past him, then Rahmat, and finally, Mohammad Saleem, who was the ninth wicket to fall. This last dismissal was the latest puzzle in a line of bad reviews (or lack thereof) from either side. Suthar had pitched the delivery outside leg but for some reason, Saleem did not review the decision, and was animated at the dugout as he walked back.
Other Performances
The first dismissal of the day came within six overs of play, from the other end. The tall Prasidh Krishna stuck to back-of-a-length deliveries, utilising the angles off the pitch to create jeopardy for the batters. Rahmat was stoic as he left deliveries too far outside off, but the new batter Azmatullah Omarzai fell victim to him wafting at a delivery wide outside off.
Omarzai had left a yawning gap between bat and ball. Prasidh got the ball to jag back in, catch the inside edge, and send back Omarzai.
Siraj came on for a spell of three overs, for five runs, the highlight of which was when he reviewed a clear inside-edge into the pads for an lbw. Soon after, Washington came on from his end, and Kuldeep from the other, to bowl in tandem. Kuldeep hesitated to put revs on the ball and for a period, both bowlers seemed innocuous in comparison to Suthar.
However, Ashraf struggled to bat with a visible groin injury. Kuldeep began lobbing up balls that he needed to step out to deadbat. Suthar returned to take advantage of his limited reach, and had him edging behind.
Sundar picked up the final wicket of the session, when he had Ziaur going for a huge swipe across the line. Pant ran in to complete a catch. Afghanistan now face a deficit of 412 runs as they head out to bat again.
