Former Indian player Sunil Gavaskar said that nerves could have played a key part in debutant Saransh Jain’s poor showing with the ball in the second Test against Sri Lanka at Colombo as well. Playing his first match for India at age 33, he struggled in both innings, finishing with match figures of 3/167. However, Saransh’s ineffectiveness throughout the match proved costly for India, as they failed to win on the final day despite the hosts playing throughout. They finished on 429/9 at the end of Day 5 and eventually ended in a draw.

Talking about Saransh Jain’s debut in his column for the Mid-Day, Sunil Gavaskar added: “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. 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.”

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“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.

Sunil Gavaskar also believes veteran spinner Kuldeep Yadav could have helped remove the Sri Lankan tail in the drawn second Test as well. Kuldeep was dropped from the playing XI for the second Test after his poor performance in the
series opener, where he gave away 103 runs and picked up only a solitary wicket as well.

“Kuldeep Yadav’s absence also did not help, as a good wrist spinner can get the lower-order batters out in a jiffy most of the time,” concluded Sunil Gavaskar.