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Saransh Jain received his maiden national cricket team call-up at the age of 33. Nowadays, age is considered a factor behind a cricketer's career in international cricket. For Jain, who idolized Virat Kohli, age is just a number if he can maintain his fitness at the highest level.
BCCI named Saransh, an off-spinner who can add value with the bat, to travel to Sri Lanka for a 2-match Test series with the India National Cricket Team.
Age is just a number: Saransh Jain
Ahead of the series, which will begin on August 15, the Madhya Pradesh-born explained how he climbed the ranks despite being well over thirty.
While speaking to the news agency PTI, the spin bowling all-rounder expressed that for him, age is nothing but a number. He mentioned Virat Kohli as the trendsetter who established himself as one of the fittest Indian cricketers despite nearing forty.
"Age is just a number. For me, it is the same. The fitness trend that Virat Kohli has been doing, I think he is the youngest on the ground. I get motivated by seeing him and work hard for my fitness," Saransh Jain said.
Saransh Jain's father was a cancer patient who motivated his son to continue playing cricket
Jain stated that he and his entire family kept struggling for 26 years with the hope of playing for the national cricket team in the future. He especially mentioned his father, who was battling with cancer.
In several interviews in the past, Saransh revealed that he was also considering retirement from professional cricket because of his father's health condition.
But his father, Subodh Jain, who was in bed and was unable to talk, took a piece of paper and wrote down: Beta, tu jitna accha karega, main utni jaldi theek ho jaaunga (Son, the better you perform, the quicker I will recover).
These words still motivate Saransh Jain to pursue his career with pure dedication. The national team call-up is a reward not only for Saransh, but for the entire Jain family.
"We have been waiting for this for 26 years. There is a lot of hard work and struggle behind it. There are sacrifices, not just mine but of my family as well. This journey has been very up and down in my life. Finally, I have got this reward, and I am very happy. I am happy for my father and my family," he said in the interview.
Saransh Jain highlights his career
He is among those rare Indian talents who never played in the Indian Premier League (IPL) but still is on the verge of making a national cricket team debut. Saransh, who has scored 2223 runs at an average of 31.75 and taken 188 wickets at 27.30 in 54 first-class matches, stated that the selection is entirely up to the selectors. As a cricketer, his only duty was to keep performing significantly for the team across the domestic tournaments.
"In the last 3-4 years, I have had a very good performance. The main thing is with the selectors. They note down all the things you have done recently and what performance you have given in the past 3-4 years. I think they select based on all those things," Saransh Jain added.
SARANSH JAIN TALKING ABOUT VIRAT KOHLI & HIS GREATNESS.🐐 (PTI).
— Tanuj (@ImTanujSingh) August 1, 2026
- King Kohli, The Inspiration. pic.twitter.com/UFWdCv73lN
