India have handed a maiden Test call-up to 33-year-old Saransh Jain, who has never played the IPL, after Washington Sundar's hamstring injury left them without a specialist off-spinner for the opening Test against Sri Lanka.
Why India turned to 33-year-old Saransh Jain as their off-spin fix
Two factors drove Jain's selection. India needed another specialist off-spinner with Sundar unavailable, but they have also shown over the last year that they are reluctant to be without one altogether.
Since Ravichandran Ashwin's retirement, Sundar has become India's only regular specialist off-spin option. He has not replaced Ashwin in the conventional sense, though. While Ashwin was expected to shoulder the bulk of India's spin workload regardless of conditions or opposition, Sundar has largely been used as a tactical option under Gautam Gambhir. His spells have often begun when left-handers are at the crease before India have turned back to their other spin options. Even so, he has remained a constant presence because his off-spin offers a different angle to the rest of India's attack.
India's squad for the series already includes Ravindra Jadeja and Manav Suthar, both left-arm finger spinners, while Kuldeep Yadav offers wrist-spin. An off-spinner gives India a different angle altogether, taking the ball away from left-handers rather than into them. With Sri Lanka expected to field several left-hand batters, replacing that option became a priority once Sundar was ruled out.
Jain offered exactly that, while also adding depth with the bat. A left-handed batter who bowls off-spin, he has scored 2,223 runs at 31.75 and taken 188 wickets at 27.30 in 54 first-class matches. Since the start of the 2024 domestic season, he has been among the country's most productive all-rounders, scoring 973 runs at 34.75, including a century and seven fifties, while taking 92 wickets at 29.33.
Although he made his Ranji Trophy debut in 2014, Jain had played only eight first-class matches before establishing himself during Madhya Pradesh's title-winning campaign in 2022. He took 13 wickets and scored a half-century in the knockout stages as the side lifted the trophy for the first time.
Last season was his strongest yet. Jain scored 518 runs at 57.55 and claimed 30 wickets at 20.43 in the Ranji Trophy after being named Player of the Series in the Duleep Trophy, where he took 16 wickets and scored two half-centuries in just two matches. Earlier this month, he toured Sri Lanka with India A. After a quiet first match, he responded with an unbeaten 70 and a six-wicket haul in the second, further strengthening his case in conditions similar to those India will encounter during the Test series.
India have explored other off-spin options since Ashwin's retirement. Tanush Kotian travelled with the squad during the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy after Ashwin retired midway through the series and appeared next in line, but a modest Ranji Trophy campaign - nine wickets in five innings and 86 runs - has seen him slip behind. Nikhil Kashyap and Pulkit Narang remain in the domestic conversation, but neither has put together the body of work Jain has over the past two seasons.
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Whether Jain walks straight into the XI remains uncertain. Jadeja and Kuldeep are expected to start, leaving one place between Jain and Manav Suthar. Suthar impressed on debut against Afghanistan with seven wickets, but pairing him with Jadeja would leave India with two left-arm finger spinners. Jain, meanwhile, gives India the off-spin option they otherwise lose without Sundar while also strengthening the lower order with his left-handed batting.
If he debuts, Jain will become India's oldest Test debutant ithis century, underlining how, even in a country brimming with spin talent, specialist off-spinners remain in surprisingly short supply.
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