Former Indian batter Sanjay Manjrekar believes Manav Suthar could have bowled better on the third day’s play in the first innings of the second Test match against Sri Lanka at Colombo on Tuesday. Suthar returned with figures of 3-85 in 22 overs he bowled and conceded his runs at an economy rate of 3.90.

The left-arm orthodox spinner had bagged a ten-wicket haul in the first Test at Galle but he could not hit the right areas in the first innings of the second game.

Suthar accounted for Prabath Jayasuriya, Dhananjaya de Silva and Keshara Nuwantha.

Sanjay Manjrekar said on Sony Sports, “He picked up three wickets, but he will know himself that he could have been better. It could have been the pitch or maybe his own accuracy but I found him a lot more impressive as a bowler in Galle. But it still seems like you can’t keep him away from wickets.”

On the other hand, Manjrekar reckons debutant Saransh Jain got his speed right with the second new ball. Jain looked a bit off-colour on Tuesday but got two wickets of Lahiru Kumara and Sonal Dinusha on the penultimate day of the game.

“He has a slightly different action. It’s not copybook like Manav Suthar, which is not a problem. In his first seven overs, he was bowling in the 70s kph when it seemed like he had a quick arm action, with only a few in the 80s. But right towards the end, with the second new ball and just before that, he got his speed right. He should be allowed to bowl at that speed, and then we can judge him for what he is. Because what we saw him do in the first half was something unnatural to him,” said Manjrekar (via the aforementioned source).

Sri Lanka was bowled out for 290, and they are following on in the second innings.