Former Indian captain and commentator Sunil Gavaskar has opened up on debutant Saransh Jain’s performance in the recently concluded second Test against Sri Lanka in Colombo, which ended in a draw.
The Madhya Pradesh off-spinner, who made his debut at the age of 33, finished the game with figures of 3/167 across both innings. As a result, Sri Lanka went on to finish with 429/9 on Day 5, pushing India for a draw.
Writing his exclusive column for Mid-Day, Gavaskar opined that Saransh looked a bit nervous in his debut game, adding that he had little variety to deceive batters across both innings of the Colombo Test.
“The debutant off-spinner looked an honest trier with little variety to trouble batters at this level. Sure, he could have been nervous considering that he was making his debut, yet there was no deception through the air and an over-reliance on the pitch for assistance,” Gavaskar wrote.
India used eight bowling options in their second innings in the Colombo Test, but couldn’t bowl out Sri Lanka on the last two days. Furthermore, the former Indian opening batter slammed the overall Indian bowling unit for their ineffectiveness on a pitch that offered some turn.
“If they couldn’t dismiss the lower order batting on a pitch where there was some turn, it does make Indian cricket fans a bit nervous. There was a sameness to the bowling. On a pitch that got slower as the match progressed, the fast bowlers struggled to get the ball up towards the batters’ shoulders. Here perhaps the extra pace and height of Gurnoor Brar may well have come in handy,” he added.
Additionally, Gavaskar reckoned that veteran spinner Kuldeep Yadav could have been a useful bowler in tackling the Sri Lankan tail in the Colombo Test. India will next move to New Zealand for a two-Test tour in their WTC journey.
