Saransh Jain: Off-spinner living his father's dream

New Delhi: Immediately after Subodh Jain underwent a surgery for oral cancer in 2014, son Saransh Jain's inclusion in the Madhya Pradesh Ranji Trophy team came as a balm, a relief that mitigated his suffering a bit. Subodh, who was working for State Bank of India (SBI) and had been coaching youngsters including his two sons, was told to give up solid food after surgery. For the past 12 years, he has survived only on liquid food.

"I was a Ranji Trophy player, an off-spinner. There wasn't much scope in cricket back then. But when my kids were growing up, the opportunities increased. I don't think I had any doubt any moment that a cricketer's sons should become cricketers," says Subodh on phone from Indore.

Saransh was, on Tuesday, picked in the Indian Test team for the upcoming tour of Sri Lanka. He has replaced Washington Sundar for the first Test.

"Saransh was eight when he began learning the game. He was initially a medium pacer, but I realised that his deliveries would cut in sharply. So I made him switch to off-spin."

While Saransh's elder brother gave up playing cricket when he was in 11th due to what his father calls "politics" and is now an engineer, Saransh continued, rose through age group cricket and finally made his Ranji Trophy debut at the age of 21.

Between 2014 and 2020, he played only eight Ranji Trophy matches.

"It was only after Chandrakant Pandit took over as MP coach that he began getting matches regularly," says Subodh who played Ranji Trophy between 1985 and 1988 and had to make way for Rajesh Chauhan, who went on to represent India in the 1990s.

The season when MP won Ranji Trophy (2021-22), he was drafted in for the quarterfinal, semifinal and final. In the final against Mumbai, he took two wickets and scored a fifty that helped take lead beyond 100. Prior to that, he took five wickets in the semifinal and six in the quarterfinal.

He never looked back after that and has always been part of the MP Ranji Trophy team since then.

Saransh had 13 wickets in the 2021-22 season (ranked 35 in wickettakers' list), 35 wickets in 2022-23 (ranked 13th), 27 wickets in 2023-24 (ranked 31st), 21 in 2024-25 (ranked 47th) and 30in 2025-26 season (ranked 13th).

While there is some criticism over his inclusion as there are other contenders like Tanush Kotian, it seems the selectors have given him the go-ahead due to his age, experience and consistency.

If he gets to play a Test, he will be India's oldest Test debutant since Robin Singh debuted at the age of 35 in 1998.

Tags : Saransh Jain, Cricket, India, Sri Lanka, Debut, Test , Washington Sundar