Former India batter and commentator Sanjay Manjrekar has raised doubts about Saransh Jain’s chances of retaining his place in the Indian Test team after the Madhya Pradesh off-spinner’s debut outing against Sri Lanka. Speaking after Jain’s appearance in the second Test in Colombo, Manjrekar described the 33-year-old’s performance as ordinary and questioned whether the Gautam Gambhir-led management would continue with him going forward. Jain earned a late call-up for the two-Test series in Sri Lanka after Washington Sundar’s injury and made his debut in Colombo for the second Test when Kuldeep Yadav was ruled out. He went wicket-less on Day three of the match but managed to pick up two wickets on Day 4.

“Saransh Jain had a pretty average outing against Sri Lanka. He never really looked like troubling any of the top-order batters or taking a wicket. Looking at this Gautam Gambhir-led management, I feel he may disappear very soon. They don’t seem to give players a long run, and after this performance, Saransh could struggle to feature in the Indian squad again. I hope he gets more chances, but I have my doubts,” Manjrekar said.

The off-spinning all-rounder from Indore has done well for India A earlier on the same tour with an unbeaten 70 and six wickets. However he struggled to maintain pressure or get wickets on Day 3 after which Sanjay Manjrekar made this comment. Saransh Jain is the lone off-spinner in the squad after the injury to Sundar and it will be interesting to see if he does retain his place going forward.

Saransh Jain Career Stats and Performance in This Test

Saransh Jain came to international cricket with a solid first-class record having played for more than a decade with Madhya Pradesh. Across 54 first-class matches he scored 2223 runs at an average of 31.75, including two centuries and 14 half-centuries, while claiming 188 wickets at 27.30 with 10 five-wicket hauls. The 2025-26 domestic season was very successful for him. In the Ranji Trophy last season he scored 518 runs at 57.55 and took 30 wickets at 20.43. He was also Player of the Series in the Duleep Trophy for Central Zone, taking 16 wickets and scoring two half-centuries.

He has also played key roles in Madhya Pradesh’s 2021-22 Ranji title win and had consistent seasons of scoring more than 300 runs and picking up more than 25 wickets multiple times. In the second Test against Sri Lanka in Colombo, Jain made his debut at 33 years and 145 days and became the oldest Indian Test debutant since Robin Singh in 1998. Batting at No. 8 he scored 6 runs before being caught off Asitha Fernando. With the ball he went wicket-less on Day 3. But he picked up his first two Test wickets today when he dismissed Lahiru Kumara and Sonal Dinusha finishing with 2 for 69 as India enforced the follow-on.