Kuldeep skipped Friday’s net session in Colombo, and Saransh Jain bowled through it
India settle on an XI for Sunday’s second Test, and the spin slot alongside Ravindra Jadeja and Manav Suthar is the last thing left to decide. Kuldeep Yadav’s 1 for 103 at Galle turned it into a real argument.
Aug 22, 2026
India start the second Test against Sri Lanka on Sunday at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo holding a 1-0 lead, and the one unresolved question in the touring camp is which spinner bowls alongside Ravindra Jadeja and Manav Suthar.
Kuldeep Yadav did not attend the squad’s practice session in Colombo on Friday, two days out from the match. No reason was given for the absence. Saransh Jain, the 33-year-old off-spinner from Madhya Pradesh who has not yet played for India, bowled a long spell in the nets in the same session, working through it with spin coach Sairaj Bahutule and with Jadeja alongside him.
What happened at Galle
India won the opening Test by 165 runs, posting 462 and 193 either side of Sri Lanka’s 284 and 206. Suthar, in only his second Test, took ten wickets in the match, 4 for 76 in the first innings and 6 for 55 in the second. Jadeja finished with four across the two innings.
Kuldeep sent down 25 overs in that match and took one wicket for 103 runs. On a surface where the other two spinners took 14 between them, that is the sort of return that tends to settle a selection argument before anyone has to make it out loud.
The case for Saransh Jain
Jain’s numbers are the kind that pile up quietly over a decade of domestic cricket. He has 188 first-class wickets from 54 matches at 27.30, and a heavy 2025-26 Ranji Trophy season for Madhya Pradesh is what finally put him on the selectors’ radar. He came into the squad as cover for Washington Sundar, who tore a hamstring during the ODI series against England, and he did not waste the audition that followed: six wickets and an unbeaten 70 in the second four-day game for India A against Sri Lanka A in July.
The tactical argument is simpler than the statistical one, and it is the reason the selectors wanted an off-spinner in this squad in the first place. Sri Lanka’s batting order is full of left-handers, and both players added for Colombo, Kamil Mishara and Sahan Arachchige, bat left-handed too. Jadeja and Suthar are both left-arm orthodox, so they take the ball away from a left-hander rather than into him. Jain turns it the other way. That is a different problem for Shubman Gill to set fields around.
Not everyone wants the change
Venkatesh Prasad made the counter-argument on Sony Sports on 19 August, and he made it as a message rather than an analysis. “It is important to address Kuldeep Yadav as team management and as a captain,” he said. “And I would say, Kuldeep, please don’t worry, you’re going to play the next Test match as well.”
He went further on the specific temptation India are facing. “Kuldeep didn’t perform as expected, and it’s easy to say OK, let’s get Saransh, who’s an off-spinner, but I would still go with Kuldeep. I think this is how we need to sort of give confidence to the players.”
Cheteshwar Pujara reached for a comparison that carries weight in Indian dressing rooms. “Ashwin also used to bowl expensive spells and was hit for boundaries when he came on, but then managed to take wickets,” he said. “Kuldeep is also like that.” His wider point was that a wrist-spinner’s job is to buy wickets rather than dry up an end, and that judging Kuldeep on his economy misses what he is in the side to do.
Pujara has not been uncritical, though. Watching the Galle Test, he also said Kuldeep should have bowled better at the left-handers. Given who Sri Lanka have just added to their squad, that is the awkward part of the defence.
What is riding on it
This is a two-Test series, so Colombo decides whether India go home with a sweep or a 1-0 win, and their World Test Championship percentage is tight enough that the difference is worth having. Sri Lanka, meanwhile, arrive in worse shape than they left Galle. Dinesh Chandimal is unavailable after a concussion on the fourth day there triggered a seven-day stand-down, Kusal Mendis is out with a hamstring problem and Pathum Nissanka is still recovering from wrist surgery. That is three of their most reliable batters missing at once.
For Jain, the maths are personal. He made his first-class debut in 2014 and waited nearly twelve years for a call-up. Players who get there at 33 rarely get a second window if the first one closes. If Kuldeep’s absence from Friday’s session meant what it looked like it meant, Jain finds out on Sunday morning.