‘I fought cancer to see my son play for India’: Saransh Jain’s long road to Test cricket | Cricket News
NEW DELHI: Subodh Jain still can’t speak properly because of the mouth cancer he was diagnosed with in 2014. But one can understand the barrage of emotions he was going through as his son, Saransh Jain, was handed a Test cap by Ravindra Jadeja at the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) ground in Colombo.“I fought cancer to see my son play for India. Now he has given me a new lease of life, and I want to keep fighting and see him reach greater heights,” Subodh, a former Madhya Pradesh cricketer, tells TimesofIndia.com from Indore.“The emotions are mixed. I don’t know whether to cry or laugh. I am a bit numb,” he adds.Subodh is elated and had a hunch that his son might get his long-due in this two-match Test series against Sri Lanka. As a superstition, he never discussed cricket with him.“Pehli baar maine cricket ke baare mein usse baat hi nahi ki (I never asked him about his cricket, and it happened for the first time),” he says.
I asked for a paper and a pen. And I wrote, ‘Beta, tu jitna accha karega, main utni jaldi theek ho jaaunga [If you perform better, I will recover sooner]
Subod Jain | Saransh’s father
“The conversation revolved around food, Galle Fort and his health. Of course, I am his coach, but I am also his father. Him getting the India call was a dream for us, and now he will get to play for India is quite surreal.”Subodh shares the turbulent phase of his son’s career when Saransh wanted to quit cricket and take care of his father.
Saransh Jain (BCCI Photo)
“In 2014, Saransh was touring Australia with an Indore club. During that time, I was diagnosed with oral cancer. My mouth was badly swollen after surgery and I couldn’t speak, and my wife and my elder son kept telling him that I was busy,” he reminisces.“When he returned from Australia and saw me, he was devastated. He was in tears and was telling his brother that he wanted to quit cricket.”“I asked for a paper and a pen. And I wrote, ‘Beta, tu jitna accha karega, main utni jaldi theek ho jaaunga’ (If you perform better, I will recover sooner),” Subodh says with a pause.
Between 2014 and 2019, he played just eight Ranji games, collecting 11 wickets. But once Chandu sir [Chandrakant Pandit] came, he gave him the direction, and he became a regular for Madhya Pradesh and helped them win the Ranji Trophy.
Subod Jain
Subodh, a former Madhya Pradesh off-spinner himself, has been Saransh’s coach since his son started taking his first steps in cricket, but he credits coach Chandrakant Pandit for being the man who instilled in his son the belief that he could play at the top level.“He picked off-spin from me. I taught him the craft,” says a proud father. “But it was Chandu sir’s arrival when things started changing for Saransh.”Saransh bagged a five-wicket haul on his Ranji Trophy debut against Tamil Nadu but soon found himself out of the side.
![Colombo [Sri Lanka], Aug 22 (ANI): Head Coach Gautam Gambhir and India's Saransh...](https://static.toiimg.com/photo/imgsize-199620,msid-133434597/colombo-sri-lanka-aug-22-ani-head-coach-gautam-gambhir-and-indias-saransh.jpg "Colombo [Sri Lanka], Aug 22 (ANI): Head Coach Gautam Gambhir and India's Saransh Jain during a practice session ahead of the Second Test cricket match against Sri Lanka at Sinhalese Sports Club, in Colombo on Saturday. (ANI Photo)")
Colombo [Sri Lanka], Aug 22 (ANI): Head Coach Gautam Gambhir and India’s Saransh Jain during a practice session ahead of the Second Test cricket match against Sri Lanka at Sinhalese Sports Club, in Colombo on Saturday. (ANI Photo)
“He never got regular chances. Between 2014 and 2019, he played just eight Ranji games, collecting 11 wickets. But once Chandu sir came, he gave him the direction, and he became a regular for Madhya Pradesh and helped them win the Ranji Trophy,” recalls Subodh Jain.In 2021-22, when Madhya Pradesh won the Ranji Trophy, Saransh was part of the title-winning side. He went on to win the Lala Amarnath Award for the best all-rounder in the Ranji Trophy in 2022-23. That season, he scored 360 runs and picked up 35 wickets for Madhya Pradesh.He remained consistent. In the 2023-24 season, he scored 432 runs and picked up 27 wickets. In the 2025-26 Ranji Trophy season, he amassed 518 runs at an average of 57.55 and picked up 30 wickets at 20.43. That followed a stellar Duleep Trophy campaign for Central Zone, where he scored two half-centuries and claimed 16 wickets in just two matches to be named Player of the Series, steering Central Zone to their first title in 11 years.
Harbhajan Singh with Saransh Jain at BCCI’s Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru (Saransh Jain | Instagram)
His consistency helped him become a regular in the India A set-up. Then, in March earlier this year, he met former India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh during a five-day spin-bowling camp at the BCCI Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru.During their first interaction, Harbhajan told him something that touched him deeply. In one of his Instagram posts, Saransh credited Harbhajan with fuelling him. His caption read: “Kuch paane ke liye kuch khona nahi, kuch karna padta hai (To achieve something, you don’t have to lose something, you have to do something).”Saransh further wrote: “These aren’t just words. They were deeply felt and will stay with me.”“He has worked incredibly hard and spent many years in domestic cricket, which, in many ways, is tougher than people realise. Bowling long spells of 40 or 50 overs across a match teaches you a lot. The more you bowl, the more you learn,” Harbhajan told this website after Saransh was picked for the India team.“At 33, he is still young for a spinner, but he now has the experience of bowling to some of the best players of spin in domestic cricket. I am grateful that I got the opportunity to spend four or five days with him,” Harbhajan added.It has been a long road for Saransh to achieve the dream that his father first saw for himself and then for his son. But the domestic bulwark definitely knows the importance of patience and perseverance, and he is only just off the blocks.
