Mumbai: As India head to Sri Lanka for the two-Test series in August with renewed hope to keep the World Test Championship dream alive, the squad will include a domestic journeyman with an opportunity to fulfil a lifelong dream of his and his cricketer father.
Event Context
Saransh made his first-class debut as an off-spin all-rounder for MP in 2014, but after years of self-discovery it was in 2021, when Chandrakant Pandit became head coach, that he found a grip over proceedings.
For long, Saransh had been back in the queue of off-spinners who have had to wait it out while Ravichandran Ashwin spun a web at the highest level. When Ashwin retired during the 2024 Australian tour, the selectors opted for Mumbai’s Tanush Kotian for his attributes as a tall off-spinner. Towards the back end of Ashwin’s storied career, Sundar had stepped up as an allround package.
Saransh’s classical off-spin bowling, therefore, is somewhat of a throwback. However, he kept reinventing. Pandit recalled how he encouraged Saransh to bowl from around the wicket to the right hander to bring his away going ball into play. “He was reluctant initially as every off-spinner about losing out on lbw. But I explained how the slips, leg-slip, short leg could be used. Soon, Rajat Patidar would end up taking so many catches off Saransh at bat-pad,” he said.
The spinner is an outlier on another count. Despite his batting complementing his prime skills, for his orthodox bowling style he has never won favour at the IPL auction table. That took away the possibility of parachuting into top-flight cricket like many others. “I don’t want to go to IPL just as a net bowler, but only if I am picked,” Pandit recalled Saransh once telling him. “He therefore wanted to work very hard on red-ball cricket. That was his determination. He always wanted to play for India.”
Player Focus
Picking Saransh as a replacement for Washington Sundar – he is ruled out of the first Test with a hamstring injury – is a departure from convention for Ajit Agarkar’s selection committee which has been wary of introducing 32-plus players to the international fold.
“It doesn’t matter that he is late. It also means he is bringing forth his experience,” said Harbhajan Singh, who worked with Saransh recently at a spin bowling camp at BCCI’s Centre of Excellence.
“Uski unglion main dum hai, shoulder main jaan hai (there is strength in his fingers and life in the shoulder for a spinner). That’s all you want,” the former India off-spinner told HT.
“Woh paka hua bowler hai (he is a mature bowler). He has bowled a lot of overs in Ranji Trophy. In Indian domestic cricket, you don’t get the ball spinning from the first ball. The pitches are not always spin friendly. I saw watching Saransh that he has the art of picking wickets. You can make out from the first ball…his seam position, accuracy, ability to bowl where he wants, it is all there.”
“I felt he had something in him when I first saw him. To give him more opportunities, I had to drop a senior spinner,” said Pandit. “I remember in one match Andhra had taken nearly a 150-run lead and he was able to turn the match around and we won outright. It’s these performances that convince you.”
Match Outlook
If he gets to play, Saransh Jain, 33, will become India’s oldest Test debutant after Robin Singh, who made his debut in 1998 aged 35. In his time, Subodh too was an off-spinner for Madhya Pradesh. Now, as a cancer survivor, he would relish the emotional ride of watching his son play for India.
That goal is close to bearing fruit. He could find himself competing for a spot in the playing eleven with left-arm spinner Manav Suthar – Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav are expected to start. The tour match on August 7 could thus prove decisive.
Earlier this month, Saransh had impressed for India A with an allround performance (4/92, 2/66 & 70*) against Sri Lanka A at Galle, where the first Test begins on August 15. The second Test will be played in Colombo from August 23.
