‘Saransh will deliver at the highest level,' says Chandrakant Pandit

Saransh Jain in the recent series vs Sri Lanka ‘A’. Pic/Jain’s Instagram

Madhya Pradesh's head coach and former India wicketkeeper-batsman Chandrakant Pandit believes MP off-spinner Saransh Jain, 33, will do justice to his India call-up for the Test series against Sri Lanka, starting at Galle on August 15.

Pandit has played a huge role in Saransh's progress at MP. "Earlier, Saransh used to hardly play one match in a year. When I started coaching the MP team in 2020, I started giving him regular opportunities because I felt he's a genuine off-spinner and has something special in him. He grabbed the opportunity with both hands and has now rightly earned the India cap. I'm confident he will do well at the highest level," Pandit told mid-day on Tuesday.

MP head coach Chandrakant Pandit

Jain, 33, has claimed 188 first-class wickets and scored 2223 runs in 54 matches so far. Pandit explained how he turned around Jain's bowling fortunes. "Saransh Jain is the only off-spinner in the country, who bowls round the wicket from the very first ball. Earlier, he used to bowl over the wicket. But I felt he could be more effective bowling round the wicket, so I convinced him to do so by showing him his videos and explaining the line at which he could bowl and succeed. He started doing this, picked wickets, and his confidence grew. He realised bowling round the wicket facilitated more Leg Before Wicket [LBW] dismissals, caught-behinds and even clean bowled dismissals. He is very skillful, hardworking and accurate with his line. He's a fine student of the game, always curious to learn more, and that's a great sign," added Pandit, who also offered some words of advice to his ward, going forward.

"Saransh called me today [Tuesday] and I told him that he has reached this stage because of the hard work he has put into first-class cricket. So, he should continue bowling in Tests like he does in first-class cricket. I told him, ‘Rather than thinking that I'm bowling to a Test player, forget about it and just bowl as you do at first-class level.' He has to stick to his basics, that's all," concluded Pandit.

Saransh with dad Subodh Jain

India's Test squad
S Gill (c), KL Rahul (vc), Y Jaiswal, S Sudharsan, D Padikkal, D Jurel (wk), R Jadeja, R Pant (wk), M Suthar, S Jain, K Yadav, J Bumrah, M Siraj, P Krishna, G Brar