At 6’8’’, South Africa’s Marco Jansen is a towering figure. On Monday, he stood tall for his country, finishing with a rousing six-wicket haul on day three of the second Test here.
Height an advantage
His high-arm release and the ability to generate awkward bounce from a slightly fuller length leaves batters suffocating as India found out.
The 25-year-old put the bouncer to good use, which gave him four of his six wickets.
Going with the flow
“To be honest, we just said we’re going to try. It wasn’t nipping as much as in Kolkata and wasn’t squatting as well. We had to figure out a plan, and I think when I got my first wicket with a bouncer, we said: ‘let’s see how long this is going to work for,’ and yeah, it just came off,” said Jansen.
The left-arm pacer was also pleased to have finally found success in India, which he felt had been a difficult place for him in the past.
“I have always struggled bowling in India, whether it was white ball or red ball.
“I am jealous of people who are short and can get the ball to squat and nip back. Since I’m so tall, for me it goes over the stumps,” he added.
“At the same time, when there’s a wicket with a bit of pace and bounce, then I get to extract more out of it.
Always learning
“I have tried to learn what’s going to work for me and help me perform to the best of my ability. Today was just one of those days I got the pace and the bounce out of the wicket… everything clicked. As a player, you take those days and run with it”.

