Xtra Time Web Desk: They say dreams come true if you put in your best effort and hard-work. 20 year old South African left arm fast bowler Marco Jansen is close to having his dreams realized. One might be wondering how. Well the talented quick from Pretoria has been roped in by reigning IPL champions Mumbai Indians for the upcoming IPL 2021 season.
In early 2018, Marco and his twin brother Duan had an opportunity to bowl to Virat Kohli at Team India nets ahead of the third test in Johannesburg. The Indian captain was upset over India’s series loss and coming off a combative press conference in Centurion, where he had a verbal spat with a local South African journalist.
It was rare to see the world’s best batsman got beaten not once but thrice in a row outside his off stump by Marco, who was clocking good speed. The Jansen twins, both bowling left-arm pace did not waste an opportunity to get clicked with the Indian captain after the practice session.
Three years since drawing a “Well bowled” from Kohli, Marco might find himself bowling to the man again, this time in the most elite league in the world, when IPL 2021 comes around. Marco was bought at his base price, Rs 20 lakh (close to US$28,000) by the Mumbai Indians. When the most complete franchise in T20, with a record of identifying potential early, shows interest in you, people sit up and take notice.
That net session in 2018 wasn’t the first time Marco was bowling to Indian batsmen with international experience. In 2017, during an India A tour of South Africa, the twins bowled to Manish Pandey, Karun Nair and Abhinav Mukund, as well as future internationals Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan. Watching from the sidelines was Rahul Dravid, then the India A coach.
Sharing the dressing room with the likes of Rohit Sharma, Trent Boult, Hardik Pandya , Mahela Jayawerdene – well Marco Jansen is surely having his dreams realized.