Promising debuts of keenly tracked young cricketers at the highest level tend to linger in the memory for long. They act as a tantalising prelude to the career ahead, and invite lofty expectations from an entourage of admirers.It need not always be a three-figure score or five-wicket haul that instigates this rush of excitement; sometimes a sumptuous cover-drive racing across the turf, an in-swinging yorker detonating the stumps or a big-spinning delivery breaching bat and pad is enough.A debut to savourLast month, Manav Suthar’s Test debut against Afghanistan in New Chandigarh contained many ingredients worthy of such enthusiasm.Statistically, the 23-year-old left-arm spinner from Rajasthan became the seventh Indian to take a five-wicket haul in his maiden innings. Of equal essence was the nuanced exhibition of his skillset. It transcended the benign nature of the black-soil pitch, and managed to hold the spectators, though scattered in the 38,000-capacity Maharaja Yadavindra Singh Stadium amid scorching heat, in rapt attention.As soon as the youngster was given the ball at the start of the sixth over in Afghanistan’s first innings, he got down to business. With two slips and a short-leg around opener Abdul Malik, Manav started with a dream delivery for his tribe of left-arm spinners: the ball pitched on a good length, drew the batter forward, spun and kicked up, like a serpent taunted, to beat the outside edge.Having played and missed twice more, Malik, with just three balls left for the tea interval, responded with a daft sweep. He skied the cross-batted stroke to Mohammed Siraj at short fine-leg, and became the first victim of Manav’s Test career. The tweaker finished with figures of six for 33 and one for 29 as India clinched victory by an innings and 300 runs.Though the unvarnished truth is that Afghanistan isn’t yet up to Test standard, Manav’s illuminating debut was significant for two reasons. One, this was the first time since 2010 that India was playing a home Test without either the now-retired R. Ashwin or the rested Ravindra Jadeja. Two, neither Washington Sundar nor Kuldeep Yadav looked as threatening as the debutant.From the ease of his graceful action to the revolutions imparted on the ball as it fizzed out of his left hand, Manav’s modus operandi was largely reminiscent of an older vintage of spinners whose style was adorned by generous flight, deadly drift and sharp turn. Particularly at a time of perpetual lament about the erosion of the traditional tenets of finger-spin, Manav’s arrival appears as refreshing as the first spell of monsoon showers.Sure, stiffer challenges will follow. But in circumstances where Jadeja was given a break just for the think-tank to take a closer look at the next cab off the rank, Manav, who was picked in the XI ahead of Harsh Dubey, couldn’t have done more to impress.The southpaw’s rousing entry bolsters the competition in India’s spin department ahead of a two-Test tour of Sri Lanka where the slow bowlers have historically dominated. For their assignment across the Palk Strait in August, Shubman Gill & Co. are expected to travel with four spinners in Jadeja, Washington, Kuldeep and Manav.What Jadeja offersAs tempting as it may now seem to make a case for Manav over Jadeja, the latter’s importance to the Test team remains unaltered in the view of the men who matter. Even if he hasn’t procured a bundle of wickets of late, his batting has aged like fine wine. In 2025, the 37-year-old tallied 764 runs in 10 Tests at an average of 63.66 — higher than any previous calendar year. Conversely, he scalped just 25 wickets at 38.2 with his left-arm spin.Blue chip: Ravindra Jadeja hasn’t been at his best with the ball in recent times, but his all-round importance to the side remains unaltered in the view of those who matter.