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The BCCI announced India’s 15-member squad for the two-match Test series in Sri Lanka, with Ravindra Jadeja returning from a tennis elbow injury and 33-year-old Madhya Pradesh off-spinner Saransh Jain earning his maiden Test call-up after twelve years in domestic cricket. Bumrah and Sudharsan are included subject to fitness.
Mumbai: The BCCI’s Men’s Selection Committee announced India’s 15-member squad for the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka on Tuesday, and the list carried two stories worth telling. One belonged to a returning champion. The other belonged to a 33-year-old from Indore who has been telling his story to empty stands for over a decade, waiting for someone in a selection room to finally listen.
Jadeja’s Return
Ravindra Jadeja last pulled on an India shirt in January 2026, when he played an ODI against New Zealand in Vadodara. Weeks later, during the IPL in May, the tennis elbow gave way. The injury that kept him out is unremarkable in description and devastating in effect for a bowler who relies on the wrist snap that generates drift and dip — the very things that make him a different proposition to every other left-arm spinner in the world.
He returns to a series tailor-made for him. Sri Lanka’s turning pitches, particularly at Galle, reward the qualities Jadeja brings in all three dimensions: the left-arm spin that angles in and grips, the lower-order batting that has bailed India out of holes too many times to count, and the fielding that remains, at 37, among the finest in world cricket. Jadeja will be the most experienced spinner in the group, with Kuldeep Yadav in support.
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His presence also solves a selection problem India could not otherwise solve cleanly. Washington Sundar was unavailable for selection for the first Test, leaving a gap at spinning all-rounder that no straightforward replacement could fill. Jadeja fills it entirely.
The Saransh Jain Story
Twelve years. Fifty-four first-class matches. 2,223 runs at an average of 31.75 and 188 wickets at 27.30. One father who played for Madhya Pradesh and survived cancer surgery — and, during that surgery, wrote his son a note telling him to stay focused on his cricket. Saransh Jain kept the note. He kept playing.
Born in Indore, Jain made his first-class debut for Madhya Pradesh during the 2014-15 season and has since become one of the side’s most dependable performers. He is a right-arm off-spinner who bats left-handed — a combination that offers variety India’s current spin attack, loaded with left-arm options, does not have in abundance. His breakthrough moment came in the 2025 Duleep Trophy, where he starred for Central Zone, taking 16 wickets and scoring crucial half-centuries in the semi-final and final.
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What clinched the call-up, however, was more recent. His selection comes after an impressive India A tour of Sri Lanka, where he picked up six wickets in two matches and scored an unbeaten 70 with the bat. In the second unofficial Test in Galle specifically — on the kind of surface he will now face in August — Jain took 4 for 92 from 30 overs and contributed meaningfully with the bat as India A built a match-winning lead. The selectors were watching. They took note.
He models himself on R. Ashwin. “I often watch R Ashwin bhaiya,” he said in 2024. “I get inspired by him. I want to pursue my cricket with the same dedication as him.” In the absence of Ashwin, who retired from international cricket during the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, and with Tanush Kotian — Ashwin’s immediate domestic successor — failing to hold down a regular wicket-taking role, the path opened. Jain walked through it, twelve years after first knocking.
If he makes his Test debut in Sri Lanka, Jain will become the first India player to do so after the age of 33 since Robin Singh in 1998.
The Fitness Riders
Not everything in Tuesday’s announcement was straightforward. Sai Sudharsan and Jasprit Bumrah have been included subject to fitness clearance from the BCCI Centre of Excellence. Bumrah’s importance to the Test XI needs no elaboration; if he is fit, he plays. If he is not, Vidarbha fast bowler Yash Thakur and Jammu and Kashmir pacer Auqib Nabi remain in contention as standbys.
Sudharsan’s place is less certain in terms of the XI but his batting form has earned him the opportunity to compete for a position in the middle order alongside Gill, Jaiswal, Pant and Rahul.
The Bigger Picture: WTC and Gill’s Captaincy
The series is an important part of the ICC World Test Championship 2025-27 cycle. India are currently placed 4th in the standings and will look to improve their position with a strong result in Sri Lanka. A home series against Bangladesh follows in October; the WTC final picture will sharpen considerably by the end of August.
The series will also be an important assignment for Gill as he continues to establish himself as India’s long-term Test captain, with KL Rahul continuing as his deputy. India will play a four-day practice match in Colombo from August 7 before the first Test at Galle International Cricket Stadium on August 15. The second Test follows at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo.
For Jadeja, it is a return to the arena he has shaped and been shaped by. For Saransh Jain, it is the arena he has spent twelve years trying to reach. August cannot come quickly enough.
India’s squad for the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka: Shubman Gill (C), KL Rahul (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sai Sudharsan*, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Manav Suthar, Jasprit Bumrah*, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Gurnoor Brar, Devdutt Padikkal, Saransh Jain *Subject to fitness clearance
Schedule: Practice match: August 7–10, Colombo | 1st Test: August 15–19, Galle | 2nd Test: August 23–27, Colombo (SSC)
