How Chandrakant Pandit's prophecy turned into reality for Saransh Jain

One of Chandrakant Pandit's coaching methods is to conduct match-simulation sessions with himself standing in the middle as the umpire. When he saw Saransh Jain in action for the first time, he was taken aback by the quality of his bowling — the loop, the drift, the accuracy, the turn and the fearlessness to flight the ball. He told him straightaway, ‘You will play for India one day.’

The compliment came completely out of the blue for the off-spinner. Jain's response to the coach's observation was that he was not even a regular in the Madhya Pradesh team, let alone the India side. But Pandit, known for his unique coaching methods, upended the status quo, and Jain went on to become a regular member of the side.

The reward was almost immediate. In the 2021-22 season, when Madhya Pradesh lifted the Ranji Trophy, Jain excelled in key games, taking 13 wickets and scoring 105 runs in three matches. Some of his most crucial wickets and runs came in the final against a formidable Mumbai side. He has been a regular member of the team ever since, playing 33 matches after Pandit took over in 2021. Before that, he had featured in only eight matches across five seasons.

“He was not a regular when I took over, but I was surprised by his consistency. I even told him that he was an India material and ensured he played regularly. Kumar Kartikeya and Saransh are the key players for the side now,” Pandit said of Jain, who, on Tuesday, was drafted into the Indian squad for the tour of Sri Lanka.

Pleased that his prediction had come true, Pandit is particularly happy that Jain has been picked for India even before playing in the IPL. “The selectors have set a good example by recognising a player solely for his red-ball performances. It can motivate players to focus on red-ball cricket as much as white-ball cricket.”

With off-spinning all-rounder Washington Sundar unavailable for the first Test, Jain is the only other off-spinner in the squad, and that increases his chances of playing the first Test in conditions expected to assist spin in Galle. “It's a particularly good tour for Saransh as the surfaces in Sri Lanka will be spin-friendly. He should play for the country,” said Pandit. "He can be as successful as Harbhajan Singh and R Ashwin had been in the recent era, and Shivlal from the past generation".

Jain is perhaps the only off-spinner who bowls regularly from around the wicket. In fact, he begins his spell from that angle. “That is very brave of him and he can get right-handers bowled or caught in the slips. I suggested this change of angle to him. Previously, he bowled only from over the wicket, and now he can do it accurately from both sides of the wicket.”

Born in 1993, Jain is coached by his father, a former Ranji Trophy player from Madhya Pradesh. “It’s a proud moment for the family. There has always been a culture of cricket in our family, and our father has been teaching us the game since childhood. He still coaches us,” said his brother Saurabh Jain. The brother says the family is proud of Saransh’s performance in the 2021 Ranji Trophy final, where he played a crucial role with a 57-run knock and two wickets in the first innings.

Jain (33) made his Ranji Trophy debut in 2014, but as mentioned earlier, he was not a regular member of the Madhya Pradesh side until Pandit took charge in 2021. In a first-class career spanning 10 seasons and 54 matches, he has scored 2,223 runs at a healthy average of 31.75, including two centuries, and claimed 188 wickets at an average of 27.3.

His standout domestic season came in the last Ranji Trophy edition, when he amassed 518 runs in seven matches and took 30 wickets, becoming only the second player after Shardul Thakur to achieve the rare double of 500 runs and 30 wickets across the last five Ranji editions.

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