What Manav Suthar’s arrival does to Kuldeep Yadav’s chances in Test team

Buried in India’s squad for the two-Test series against Sri Lanka, announced on Tuesday, was a familiar problem for Kuldeep Yadav, wearing a new face. Alongside the usual talking points, Jasprit Bumrah’s fitness, the continued backing for pace prospect Gurnoor Brar, sat the inclusion of a 23-year-old left-arm orthodox spinner named Manav Suthar.
Since his Test debut in 2017, Kuldeep has played a mere 18 matches in nine years. A year ago, previewing a different tour, he spoke with the same quiet confidence conditions now warrant. Entering the World Test Championship cycle as India’s lead spinner ahead of the 2025 tour of England, he waved off any suggestion of added pressure. “It doesn’t create extra pressure. It is just normal,” he told The Indian Express, expecting the conditions there to favour spin. He did not play a single Test on that tour.
Sri Lanka should not present the same problem. Its pitches genuinely suit wr-spin, and left-handers dominate the top of the batting order, conditions closer to what he actually needs than England ever offered him. India have horically preferred three spinners in these settings, and every one of them besides Kuldeep also strengthens the batting, but Ravindra Jadeja remains the undisputed number one regardless. The real question is who partners him, and this time, Kuldeep is the likelier answer.
ALSO READ | Sharp turn at 90 kph: Manav Suthar teases India’s spin future in New Chandigarh
If India play only two spinners, the debate will centre on attacking wr-spin against classical left-arm orthodox control, Kuldeep against Suthar. Kuldeep does have one advantage even here: unlike Suthar, he turns the ball both ways.
Classical craft
Suthar’s technical grounding is exactly why this is not a settled call, even beyond this series. Former India left-arm spinner Maninder Singh believes he has the attributes to succeed at the international level over the long term.
“Very impressive. He has got a beautiful run up, lovely action, nice follow-through. And the best thing is, when the ball comes out of the hand of a spinner, the seam position tells you how hard he has worked,” Maninder told The Indian Express.

The fifth one always hits different 🌟
A moment Manav Suthar will replay for the rest of his life 🎞️
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The observation about Suthar’s seam position is revealing. A clean, upright release helps a finger spinner generate dip, drift and consent turn. The 23-year-old’s diagonal run-up from around the stumps allows his body to align naturally through the action.Story continues below this ad
Those attributes were seen during Suthar’s spell of 6/33 on Test debut against Afghanan at New Chandigarh in June. A well-set Rahmat Shah was deceived drift and dip while attempting the sweep. The ball drifted in from around leg stump, dipped on him as he went down for the shot, and crashed into middle and leg stump.
The control over flight has been built on consent domestic success. In the Irani Cup last October, playing for Rest of India, Suthar dismissed Danish Malewar with a delivery that pitched on middle stump, turned sharply and took the outside edge, a classical left-arm spinner’s dismissal. Two balls earlier, he showed the value of subtle variation, getting a delivery to hold its line after pitching on middle and beating Dhruv Shorey to hit the stump.
India have produced outstanding wr-spinners and off-spinners, but classical left-arm orthodox bowlers have been rare in recent years. Jadeja himself evolved into a world-class left-arm spinner, but his success has been built on pace, accuracy and relentless pressure rather than flight. Suthar’s method is different: more air, more drift, a greater willingness to give the ball room to work. Grooming him alongside Jadeja has real value, even if India ultimately back Kuldeep for this series, though playing Suthar and Jadeja together would give India two spinners of similar type, a variety they seldom prefer.
Confidence conundrum
For Kuldeep, the situation has never been just about form. On paper, and now in practice, Sri Lankan conditions should suit him. What has been less reliable is what India do with that fact.Story continues below this ad
“Sometimes your wicket-taking ability can go down if the team management is not showing confidence. I think he still has it in him. It’s just that if you keep him on the bench all the time and don’t give him chances to play, you don’t give him confidence,” Maninder said.
ALSO READ | Maninder Singh: Kuldeep hasn’t lost skill, he’s lost confidence

The former spinner argued Kuldeep has actually improved. “He used to bowl a little slower through the air a couple of years ago, but he has worked hard on it. Good follow-through. Using his shoulder well. Using his body well. The only problem at the minute is that he needs confidence.”

Two beauties 👌👌
What a start for Manav Suthar. He provides double delight to Rest of India in his first over 🔥
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That reframes the debate entirely: Kuldeep’s issue was never a decline in skill. It has always been a lack of consent opportunity to rebuild the confidence the role demands.Kuldeep and Suthar are not, in truth, competing to do the same job.
Kuldeep offers attacking wr-spin and variety. Suthar offers control, drift, and the chance to operate in tandem with Jadeja. This series, conditions and experience both point to Kuldeep as the stronger option as the second spinner, likely from the first Test itself.Story continues below this ad
But what Sri Lanka decides is not only who plays this fortnight. With Jadeja moving into the later stages of his career and Suthar now a genuine long-term alternative, a good series here may no longer be enough just to hold his place, it could decide whether Kuldeep stays central to India’s spin plans once the next contestant arrives, or watches the chance pass again from outside the XI. Unlike England, where the opportunity never came, Sri Lanka is likely to give him the stage. What he does with it may matter more than it ever has.