When Manav Suthar arrived at Gujarat Titans as a net bowler during the franchise’s inaugural season, he was little more than a familiar name to Aashish Kapoor. The former India spinner had tracked him since his Under-19 days, but for much of the Titans setup, he was simply another young left-arm spinner helping the squad through a long IPL bubble.
That changed quickly. “The first day, second day that he came and bowled, everybody was his fan,” Kapoor recalls in a chat with Cricbuzz.
Five years later, as Suthar marked his Test debut in Mullanpur with match figures of 7 for 62 and the Player of the Match award, including a 6 for 33 that ranked as the second-best return by an Indian in his debut innings after Narendra Hirwani, Kapoor found himself in a very different position from much of the cricketing world. While others were witnessing Suthar’s arrival for the first time, he was watching the latest chapter of a story he had seen unfolding for years.
The former India spinner had first seen Suthar years earlier as an age-group selector, having selected him in the Indian Under-19 team. Both assistant coach Kapoor and head coach Ashish Nehra had watched him develop inside the Gujarat Titans setup from a net bowler into a member of the squad. And for more than a year, the pair had found themselves returning to the same conversation: how Suthar’s bowling would translate to Test cricket.
They had the belief that Suthar would make an impact at the highest level, which was supported by a steadily growing body of work. Suthar arrived for his Test debut with 136 wickets from 30 First-Class matches, 34 more in List A cricket and 27 wickets from 10 India A appearances across formats. Earlier, he had also impressed at age-group level, picking up four wickets in his lone Under-19 Test and 10 wickets in three Under-19 one-day internationals.
So when the wickets came tumbling on debut, Kapoor’s reaction was markedly different from the excitement that greeted it elsewhere. “No, I don’t think so,” Kapoor says when asked if the performance came as a surprise.
“Nehra and me, we keep talking. We’ve been discussing here for the last one year that Jadeja is there. But the day he goes and Manav comes in against the teams who are playing spin the way they play. And I mean, India played on some really horrible wickets in a few of the series. He said if Manav bowls on those wickets, he’ll rip through.
“Even on good wickets, he’s a bowler with the kind of action he has and with the kind of spin he imparts. On a good wicket also, he’ll be a good bowler.”
The confidence was born not from a handful of recent performances but from years of familiarity. Kapoor’s association with Suthar stretches back to his days as a selector, when the left-arm spinner was coming through the ranks in Rajasthan cricket.
Suthar’s entry into the Gujarat Titans ecosystem owed as much to circumstance as planning. During the franchise’s inaugural season, operating within the constraints of a bio-bubble, the coaching staff needed net bowlers who could stay with the squad for the duration of the tournament. Another Rajasthan cricketer, Shubham Sharma, was initially in line for the opportunity, but repeated delays opened the door for Suthar.
“So I said to Nehra that let’s call this Manav,” Kapoor said. “He is also from Rajasthan. And then we called him. The first day, second day that he came and bowled, everybody was his fan. The way he bowled. And ever since, he’s been with us. He was a net bowler for two years, I think. And then we picked him. For the last three years, he’s been with us.”
The phrase Kapoor uses repeatedly while discussing Suthar is not mystery, magic or potential. It is familiarity. The six-for in Mullanpur was not viewed inside those circles as a bolt from the blue. It was viewed as an outcome that had been years in the making. The reason, according to Kapoor, is visible every time Suthar lets go of the ball. The amount of spin he generates has long separated him from his peers.
“The kind of action he has and the kind of work he puts on the ball. So if other spinners are able to spin the ball a little, he’ll spin a lot. If they’re not able to spin at all, he’ll spin a little bit. So he’s always going to be a little bit ahead,” says Kapoor.
It is perhaps the simplest and most compelling explanation for why coaches have viewed him as a future Test bowler. While many spinners become heavily dependent on conditions, Suthar’s ability to impart revolutions on the ball gives him a higher baseline. Surfaces that offer modest assistance can become significantly more dangerous. Conditions that seem benign can suddenly begin asking questions.
That quality has been evident for years. “He’s been doing this for the last six years,” says Kapoor when asked if he sees some changes from an Under-19 player to India’s Test cap No. 319. “It’s not something new. It’s not like he’s developed it overnight or something. Even in his Under-19 days, he was still able to do the same things.”
But Kapoor quickly adds that there are things beyond his bowling that the 23-year-old still needs to develop. “Only thing is, he has to work on his game smartness. How to set fields. You can’t keep having the same sort of field for all batsmen or all your bowling. You can also get wickets by having different fields. If the wicket is really flat, if the partnership is going on, how to think the batsman out.
“Bowling-wise, you run in and bowl, he’ll do that a whole day,” Kapoor says. “If the partnership is going, it’s not necessarily a good wicket. It’s not necessary he’ll just come in and bowl like a machine. At that point in time, you can change things. Make the batsman start thinking why is he putting the field there? He might do a stupid thing and give you his wicket.
“So it’s not necessary you keep bowling to him all day and give him batting practice. You could try and still end up getting his wicket. The point is, you need to try. It could be with your field set. Being a little smart. Making a little adjustment here. Keeping a new fielder, which he is not seeing. Confusing him. Putting doubt in his mind. It’s all about creating some doubt in the batsman’s mind. How you can do it? That’s the smartness you need to show.”
For all the discussion around spin rates and revolutions, this may be the area that determines how far Suthar eventually goes. The ability to exploit helpful conditions can bring wickets. The ability to manufacture them when conditions are neutral often separates good spinners from great ones.
The work being done behind the scenes reflects that longer-term thinking. Kapoor reveals that conversations this year have focused on technical refinements rather than wholesale changes with the all-rounder in the Titans setup.
Manav Suthar made his debut for the Titans in IPL 2024 ©BCCI
“We’ve been speaking to him about some of his basics,” he said. “Like holding his front hand for a little while more, so that he gets some time in the crease. His foot placement, his back foot placement. When he stands and bowls, it’s parallel to the crease. But when he runs, it’s slightly pointing towards covers. So we try to work on that and get that back. Try to get his front hand to hold a little bit longer. Take it back so that he can rock back and then body goes in front and follows the ball.”
There is also effort to add another dimension to the way the ball moves through the air. Traditionally, Suthar’s deliveries drift away from right-handers before spinning further away after pitching. While effective, it also creates a pattern that opponents can eventually prepare for.
“What I’ve spoken to him about is he needs to get the drift into the batsman rather than get the drift away from the batsman,” Kapoor explains. “Because away, and then spin also away. So it is one kind of thing the batsman has to follow if he gets used to it. But if the ball is coming into the batsman and then going away, like for an off-spinner, he drifts it away and then brings the ball in.
“People are going to get used to it. People are going to see his videos. People are going to get used to it. People are going to understand, okay, he does this. So he has to be one step ahead.”
That idea of staying ahead also extends to the common perception that years spent around the IPL inevitably alter a bowler’s game. Kapoor, however, does not see it that way. For all the innovations and variations associated with T20 cricket, he believes Suthar’s rise has been built on preserving his core strengths rather than abandoning them.
He recalled one instance when Suthar attempted to venture too far outside his comfort zone during an IPL match and ended up with an expensive outing. It was GT’s match against Punjab Kings in which Suthar bowled the 14th over, his lone over in the game and also his last appearance in IPL 2026. He went for 27 runs, with Suryansh Shedge hitting three sixes and two fours.
“I think he was under the pump one match and he tried to bowl over-the-gate yorkers and all that stuff. And got clobbered for 25-27 runs. I asked him after the game, ‘What are you trying? You’re not a fast bowler. One odd yorker you tried, okay. It didn’t work out. You should have then continued with your spin from different angles’. Fast bowlers go into slower ones, spinners go into faster ones. Doing just the opposite of what they’re supposed to do.”
Although he was put off his lengths in that game, the fundamentals have remained unchanged for Suthar. “His bowling is going to be the same whether it’s a five-day match or a one-day match,” stresses Kapoor. “He’s going to bowl with the same revolutions, try to spin the ball from length and try to get the batsman in.”
The six wickets in Mullanpur announced Suthar to a wider audience and earned him a place alongside some of India’s most memorable debutants. He became only the second Indian spinner to win the POTM award on debut, after R Ashwin in 2011. For Kapoor, however, the performance was less a revelation than a validation of beliefs formed years earlier, first as an Under-19 selector and later inside the Gujarat Titans setup.
If the debut confirmed what those around him already knew about his ability to spin the ball, the challenge now is ensuring he remains ahead of those trying to decode him. It is why Kapoor speaks as much about drift, field settings and game awareness as he does about revolutions and turn. For the rest of the cricketing world, Mullanpur was the discovery of Manav Suthar. For those who tracked his journey closely, it was merely the beginning of the next phase.
