Galle’s ground staff were bracing for a period of rain, and made their way into the middle with a great big blue covering of the pitch. The sun was still out but dark clouds were approaching. Before they came completely up the pitch, Manav Suthar bowled the ball on the side pitch and Sairaj Bahutoli took a look at him.
This was a day away from the Galle Test, when the practice session in India was optional. On the day of the Minus Two match, his training was more intense in the separate nets adjacent to the main court. But that was true for every member of the team, as they hit the ground running for the first time before the series opener.
Suthar did not bat as the top six occupied the three nets most of the time, but his double ability was not lost on the India captain. His involvement in the Tests came against Afghanistan last month – a non-WTC Test where Ravindra Jadeja was rested. But that he continues to speak out to continue his rise on this Sri Lanka tour, despite being another left-arm spinner like Jadeja, is indicative of his abilities.
India’s approach under Gill and Gautam Gambhir has included all players in the Test lineup, even at home. But injuries to Nitish Reddy and Washington Sundar forced them to look in a different and somewhat untried direction.
“I think that’s where someone like Manav comes in,” Gill said on match day Minus One when asked about the overall void in his team. “He has the ability with the bat. Of course, you need a little bit of experience, you need some belief and confidence. And that will only come when you are out there, playing, scoring some runs.”
“And we hope he does that in the series. He’s someone who is a very skilled bowler. He has the potential to be a really good number eight batsman as well.”
Gilles doesn’t oversell Southar’s hitting abilities. The Rajasthan all-rounder has a first-class century and over 1000 runs in 51 innings. Just last week, he showed that he can also bat time – facing 90 deliveries for 41 in an over Warm-up match against SLC XI. Only Devdutt Padikkal and Ravindra Jadeja have batted longer. India rewarded Saransh Jain for his domestic excellence by calling up the Test squad as Sundar’s replacement (left-handed batsman, right-arm off-spinner), but Suthar appears to have received Gill’s vote for the third spinner and all-rounder’s place.
However, life is not as clear cut for Gill when it comes to selecting the second leg, with Prasidh Krishna and Gurnoor Brar in contention for it. Brar bent his back in the nets after two days of Test and was the other bowler in the optional session, where his bowling was followed by lengthy talks with Morne Morkel. The tall speedster picked up 10 wickets (4/77 and 6/68) for India A in Galle last month, and has skills that a generation will appreciate. But in Krishna, Gill has seven tests, valuable abilities in the deck, and a penchant for improving on the go.
“both of them [Gurnoor and Prasidh Krishna] They are very skilled bowlers and bowled well in the practice match. “We’ve seen how good Gornor is at handling the old ball when nothing’s going on,” Gil offered. “You need a little bit of extra speed, extra bounce. Obviously he’s very long as well. But I think Prasidh has recently been playing the best I’ve ever seen him play. In the red ball and also in the white ball. So it’s going to be a very difficult decision for us.”
