The Untold Story of Team India Spin Coach Sairaj Bahutule

Former India leg-spinner Sairaj Bahutule has begun a new chapter as Team India's spin-bowling coach. From surviving a life-threatening car accident to building an impressive coaching career, his journey is one of resilience and dedication.

Sairaj Bahutule Story (Image Source: Google)

With the Test against Afghanistan at New Chandigarh, former India player Sairaj Bahutule began his new innings with Team India, this time not as a player but as India's new spin-bowling coach.

India has never lacked for big-name spinners, and compared to them, former India leg-spinner Sairaj Bahutule was neither as prominent nor as well-known. The truth is that his name may not be popular with Gen Z as he was not in the news in recent years for some controversy or some juicy stories. He has consistently been involved in cricket and not only coached the IPL sides (this season Punjab Kings), but also previously served in the India Under-19, India A and domestic sides.

Bahutule himself played two Tests and eight ODIs, taking five international wickets. Clearly, he wasn't very successful in international cricket and accordingly didn’t get many opportunities. However, in a first-class career spanning nearly two decades, he took 630 wickets, scored over 6,000 runs, and took 197 wickets in List A cricket. He played in six Ranji Trophy finals (all for Mumbai), winning all of them. The most talked-about of these was the 2003-04 final, in which he scored 92 runs, lower down the order.

Currently around 53, Bahutule's resume as a coach is comparatively much better. He retired from cricket and served as head coach of Vidarbha, Kerala, Gujarat, and Bengal. In the IPL, he was spin-bowling coach for Rajasthan Royals and then Punjab Kings. He was also associated with the BCCI and coached at the Center of Excellence in Bengaluru from 2021 to 2024. He was the bowling coach for the Indian team that won the ICC Under-19 World Cup in 2022 and was part of the support staff for the 2024 edition of the event also. He has also worked as a specialist bowling coach on several other assignments. In India, there aren't many coaches with such an active resume.

Well, now he's got his biggest promotion, and what could be a bigger responsibility than joining Team India's support staff? This role with Team India will open the doors of international assignments for him.

With the opportunity to play international cricket drying, Bahutule intended to remain involved with the game as a coach. That’s why while still playing cricket, when an opportunity came to coach the Vidarbha side, he grabbed it with both hands and announced his retirement. He became only the 9th bowler to take 400 wickets in the Ranji Trophy.

Despite all this, Bahutule is disappointed that he never played in the IPL. He played List A cricket until 2010, T20 cricket until 2011, and first-class cricket until 2013, but franchises focused more on his age than his skill. Especially in the first two seasons of the IPL, he was one of the most successful spinners in India.

Bhuutule holds a unique record that often goes unnoticed when his name is mentioned. He holds the India record for missing the most matches during his One Day International career. He played seven ODI between December 1997 and January 1998 but returned to Team India in November 2003 to play another one. During that period, Team India had played 196 consecutive ODI in which he was not part of the team. He failed to make a significant impact upon his return and was sidelined thereafter.

In Indian cricket, the most discussed story of a cricketer’s recovery from a traumatic car accident gets connected with Rishabh Pant. The story of Sairaj Bahutule’s accident was no less tragic. In July 1990, the car accident of Vivek Singh, son of famous singers Jagjit and Chitra Singh, in which he died was in the headlines. Sairaj Bahutule, his close friend, was also with him in the car and was lucky to survive. He broke my femur, and had a major fracture on his right leg, and needed to have a steel rod inserted in the leg. He also slipped into a coma, and it was very, very tough.

The medical aid and family’s support helped him, particularly his father’s support, who himself was a Ranji cricketer. His father Vasant, who played for Maharashtra, kept on motivating him to get back to playing cricket. The steel rod was removed a year after the accident and very soon he started playing for the senior Mumbai team as well as got picked for the India Under-19 squad against New Zealand.