Rising from the ranks of domestic cricket to wearing the Test cap, Manav Suthar made a dream India debut with a Player of the Match performance against Afghanistan. Suthar was in the plans of being promoted to the Indian squad for the last two years after performing exceptionally well in the domestic circuit. The left-arm spinner claimed a match haul of seven wickets as India triumphed by an innings and 300 runs.However, a bigger challenge will come in the near future against Sri Lanka, who have much better players of spin bowling. The Indian team is scheduled to take on Sri Lanka for a two-match Test series from August 15 to 27, which is part of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) cycle.“Once I understood that the wicket was a little slow and required some variation in pace, I started making those adjustments. But the main idea was always to make my stock ball as effective as possible,” said Suthar.India’s batting coach Sitanshu Kotak felt that the Rajasthan player was the standout performer. “He really bowled well. He is a good prospect. For the past few years, Suthar has been regularly playing for India A and India Emerging. This was a great opportunity for him and he did well too. In fact, he batted very well so that is actually very satisfying,” said Kotak.Kotak attributed Suthar’s rise to BCCI’s pathways structure. “In the last three years, he was part of one camp (at BCCI’s Centre of Excellence) which I conducted. He was part of the India team when we played in the Emerging Asia Cup. I feel the BCCI structure helps when you play so many matches before coming to the Test level. From age-group (cricket), Ranji Trophy, Emerging to India A, there are a lot of matches. Suthar is one of them who was performing for three to four years. So, good luck to him for the future,” said Kotak.The main exposure for Suthar was the India A stint in the Australia series. “He was there against England in Ahmedabad, where we played a three-match series. He was someone, the way he bowls, anybody would say he’s very, very promising. He has been consistent and he is very hardworking. To be very honest, since I saw him, I more or less knew that he’ll play for India. It depends how every individual grows and how quickly they grow,” said the batting coach.