Marco Jansen marks his rise, with a dream first ball to Virat Kohli

The young South African has added potency to Sunrisers Hyderabad’s pace attack and Saturday’s match-winning spell against RCB provided the latest example.

Marco Jansen was expected to add a new dimension to the Sunrisers Hyderabad bowling attack, and he is living up to the billing in this IPL.

Virat Kohli recorded his second consecutive golden duck  (iplt20.com)

The 21-year-old South Africa speedster is an awkward bowler to face. At 6ft 8, the left-arm pacer has the height to extract bounce on any pitch. His skill-set and tactical awareness make him even more of a threat. And Jansen also has a fiery temperament, that great ally of the aggressive fast bowler. It was all to the fore on Saturday against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Brabourne Stadium.

In his sensational first over, he blew away the RCB top-order. He got both the openers, compatriot Faf du Plessis and Anuj Rawat, and won his contest with Virat Kohli hands down by removing him for a golden duck.

With each outing, the young fast bowler is rapidly building a reputation. On his Test debut against India in December-January, he served notice of his talent with 19 wickets in three games, helping the Proteas rally to a 2-1 series win. He made headlines when he marked his Test debut at Centurion with the India captain’s wicket.

It was dream-come-true for the gangly pacer as it was his impressive bowling to Kohli as a 17-year-old in an India net session at Johannesburg’s Wanderers Stadium in 2017 that first caught the media attention. He then beat Kohli thrice in a row to get a “well-bowled” acknowledgement from the star cricketer.

Based on the early promise, Mumbai Indians picked him at the auction for the 2021 season though he got to play just two games. MI had got him for R20 lakh, but having underlined his qualities against India during the South Africa summer, Jansen’s name triggered a bidding war at the IPL auctions in February. MI were desperate to buy him back. They would have thought they had their man when Rajasthan Royals pulled out at ₹1.40 crore, but SRH entered the fray to push the price to ₹4.20 crore. MI gave up their pursuit at that point.

The player from Potchefstroom is proving value for money. SRH have won all the five games since introducing the left-arm pacer in their third game, against Chennai Super Kings at the DY Patil Stadium after starting with two defeats.

The left-armer has given a further sharpness to an already potent SRH pace attack. Even when not picking wickets, he builds pressure with his length and awkward bounce. Starting with 1/30 against CSK, he has returned figures of 1/27 against Gujarat Titans, 1/28 against Kolkata Knight Riders, 0/35 against Punjab Kings, and the game-deciding spell in the powerplay against RCB. Jansen’s first over read 1-0-3-3. It included two wides but it was the Bangalore side’s batting that had been split open.

The Faf du Plessis-led side never recovered as Jansen bowled three overs on the trot, returning figures of 3-0-18-3, by when RCB were down to 31/4 in six overs. He won the Player-of-the-Match award for his spell of 4-0-25-3.

“I try to keep it as simple as possible; sometimes it works,” Jansen said in his in-match interview with the official broadcaster. “I thought the ball was going to swing nicely after the first ball I bowled. The second ball was angled across the right-hander, but I enjoyed the third wicket the most (Rawat). This is the best spell I have bowled with the white ball so far.”

Later, in an interview conducted by Dale Steyn, SRH’s South African fast bowling coach, for official website IPLT20.com Jansen explained how he loves getting wickets Test match style. “Proud of each and every one, but the standout for me is the left-hander (Rawat). It’s the pleasure of Test match sort of wickets, nicking off guys off a good length.”

He explained his approach to bowling. “With the new ball, I try and swing it into the right-handers and away from the left-handers. Because of my big hands, I hold the ball deep into the fingers, and just try and deliver the seam.”

While he bowled Du Plessis with a peach of a delivery, the highlight was Kohli’s scalp. Whenever Jansen went up against Kohli in the Test series, it made for a fascinating watch.

On his debut, he got Kohli to edge behind the stumps, preying on his weakness outside off-stump. Getting the top batter guarantees instant attention, and it did for Jansen. Jansen had 4/55 in 13.3 overs in the second innings, ending with match figures of 5/124 on debut.

Kohli sat out the second Test in Johannesburg and was watchful when they faced off again at Cape Town in the final Test, on way to 79 and 29. Saturday was the second time they faced off in IPL. In the pacer’s debut game in 2021, Kohli had got 33 off 29 balls versus MI. On Saturday though Jansen gave Kohli no chance by producing a perfect first ball for a batter out of form, pitching it on the off-stump line and moving away a shade to have him edging to second slip Aiden Markram.

The dismissal though is a new low for Kohli, who was out for a golden duck for the second game in a row. After RCB's opening game where Kohli hit 41 not out, his scores read 12, 5, 48, 1, 12, 0 and 0.

RCB coach Sanjay Bangar, who has worked with Kohli closely as India’s batting coach from 2014 to 2019, said he is going through a phase where nothing works. “He is somebody who has performed for a number of years for this franchise; he is going through a rough patch. May be things are not going his way at the moment. He started the season well (with 41*). He has not been totally off colour, yes, the last three or four games, just the odd run out or the first edge finds the fielder’s hands. We’re very confident he will come back strong.”