It was the last over before tea on the second day of the one-off Test between India and Afghanistan in New Chandigarh, and Shubman Gill tossed the ball to debutant Manav Suthar.
After India declared their first innings on 564 for 8, Afghanistan had raced to 28 for no loss in five overs. The thing about Test cricket, though, is that it can manufacture pressure even when the batters are looking set, especially in the last over before a break.
For the better part of the last decade, R Ashwin - by default or by choice - had most often bowled these overs for India. With his bag of tricks and sharp cricketing brain, he was probably also the likeliest to outfox a batter who was merely looking to get through the session.
With Ashwin retired, and Ravindra Jadeja rested for this Test, Gill's three spin options were Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar and Suthar. Probably because Abdul Malik, a right-hand batter, was on strike, Gill decided to go with Suthar, whose stock ball spins away from right-hand batters.
While Suthar grew up idolising Ashwin and studying his variations, he is a completely different bowler, relying more on his accuracy than variations. He began from around the wicket, running diagonally between the umpire and the stumps. It's the traditional and now unfashionable way for left-arm spinners to approach the crease, helping them stay side-on in their delivery stride. It also ensures their front arm doesn't fall in front of their eyes, allowing them to watch the batter all the time and make late adjustments if needed.
The ball was still fairly new, but Suthar is used to it. In 52 previous innings in first-class cricket, he had shared the new ball nine times and bowled first change 13 times. He started with a full delivery outside off and got it to turn straightaway. Since his natural speed is around 90kph, it was sharp turn. Malik came forward to defend and was beaten. The next two deliveries also spun sharply; Malik did well to stay inside the line of the ball and let them go. While he didn't look convincing, half the job was done. Three more balls and it would be tea.
For some reason, though, Malik decided to sweep the next ball. Suthar had bowled it slightly shorter than the previous three deliveries, on a good length. As a result, he got slightly more bounce and the resulting top edge flew towards short fine leg, where Mohammed Siraj pouched it. In his very first over in Test cricket, Suthar had a wicket to his name - something only seven other Indians had achieved.
Suthar continued to trouble the Afghanistan batters even after tea. Such was his control that they could score off only three deliveries in his first eight overs. At the same time, he kept creating chances. He squared up Rahmanullah Gurbaz and got him to edge one but the slowness of the surface meant the ball didn't carry to first slip.
To counter that, Gill at second slip put on a helmet, moved closer to the bat, and dropped onto his knees. Suthar induced another edge but it fell just short of Gill. Eventually, Gurbaz ran out of luck as Sai Sudharsan caught him at second slip, giving Suthar his second wicket.
It wasn't that the Afghanistan batters didn't try to disrupt Suthar's length. Their captain Hashmatullah Shahidi twice jumped out of his crease, but on both occasions ended up miscuing towards short midwicket. When Rahmat Shah, Afghanistan's technically most sound batter, attempted the same, Suthar pulled his length back, forcing him to defend. Once he caught him on the back foot and nearly breached his defence with an arm ball.
Suthar finished his spell with figures of 13-6-20-2. But it turned out to be a short break. After just four overs, he had the ball once again. In what turned out to be the last over of the day, he picked up another wicket. Afsar Zazai tried to pull a short-of-good-length delivery but the slowness of the pitch, which had worked against Suthar until then, helped him on this occasion. Zazai was early into the pull, resulting in a leading edge that lobbed towards the bowler for the easiest of return catches.
"There was help from the wicket, so I just focused on landing the ball in good areas and turning it as much as possible," Suthar said after finishing the day with 3 for 21. During his first spell, when no other Indian spinner had bowled, the broadcaster put a graphic that said he was extracting 5.3 degrees of turn on average; the most an Afghan spinner (Malik) had managed was 3.7 degrees.
This was India's first home Test without Ashwin and Jadeja since 2010, and their spin attack had only 112 Test wickets between them, the fewest for them in a home Test since 2001. But Suthar ensured there was drop in quality.
Washington, who briefly bowled in tandem with Suthar, said it was a "genuine treat" to watch him bowl. When asked what made him special, Washington said: "He uses a lot of his body. Every time he gets into the load-up [position], he puts all his energy into the ball. That's an amazing skill and attitude to bring to every delivery."
Before that, the two had also put on 54 for the seventh wicket, with Suthar contributing 28 off 41 balls. He got off the mark by stepping out and hacking Shahidi past mid-on for four. He hit one more four and two sixes off Shahidi, all after dancing down the ground.
It was a small reward for the work he has been putting into his batting of late. During the 2025-26 Ranji Trophy, he scored his maiden first-class hundred. Incidentally, he reached there by stepping out to offspinner Mukul Negi and lofting him over long-on for a six.
When you ask a youngster about their dream, they often say they want to play for India. After getting his Test cap on Saturday, Suthar posted on Instagram about his dream coming true. His post revealed something else too.
"When I started playing cricket, my biggest dream was to play Test cricket for India," he wrote. Test cricket. At the age of 23, he seems to have all the attributes to play the format for India for a long time.
Before this match, India's head coach Gautam Gambhir had said they were looking for a fourth spinner when they travel to Sri Lanka for two Tests in August, with Jadeja, Washington and Kuldeep all but locked in as the first three. Unless something changes miraculously between now and then, Suthar seems to have booked his ticket.