Former England off-spinner Graeme Swann praised Manav Suthar after India registered a massive win of an innings and 300 runs against Afghanistan at New Chandigarh.

Suthar, who was making his debut, returned with impressive figures of 6-33 in the first innings as he breathed down the neck of the Afghan batters. The left-arm orthodox spinner accounted for Abdul Malik, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Rahmat Shah, Afsar Zazai, Sharafuddin Ashraf, and Mohammad Saleem Safi. 

Thus, he became the second Indian bowler in this century to take five wickets on Test debut. Furthermore, Suthar bagged one more wicket in the second essay and was awarded Player of the Match. Suthar also scored a decent knock of 28 runs in the first innings.

“He is gold dust. I’m telling you this now,” Swann told PTI. “And I know people will get carried away saying he’s only played one Test. After he bowled about 10 balls, just watching his action, the way it came out of his hand, everything. He is gold dust. He’s a world-class spinner and will be for 10 years. Just trust me on this. And I wish he was English,” he added.

Meanwhile, Swann also shed light on the BCCI selectors’ decision to move on from Suryakumar Yadav as India’s T20I captain.

“You know, I didn’t see it coming, but I understand that Indian cricket, because of the IPL and because of the time of year that these squads get picked, it almost seemed like it was on the cards, rightly or wrongly, but I think SKY is brilliant. I loved his captaincy. I think he’s very good. Ever since he stood up to Virat (Kohli) at that time in the IPL, for an Indian player to stand up to a legend like that and just say, ‘Hey, come on, it’s not all about you’, I’ve loved him since then,” Swann said.

Shreyas Iyer has been given the T20I captaincy baton.