 "India vs South Africa 1st ODI: 8 years after face-off in Jo'burg nets, Kohli and Jansen set to renew rivalry")
In 2018, Virat Kohli was at his peak. He was playing crucial knocks in T20Is, racking up centuries in ODIs and scoring double tons for fun in Test cricket. Marco Jansen was 17 years old then. Unusually tall, Jansen was still learning the craft of fast bowling even as there was no denying to the fact that he was a special talent.
Fast forward to 2024, Jansen has established himself as the next big thing in South African cricket. He can take wickets and smash sixes. What more one wants a cricketer to do? At his best, Jansen is a cheat code.
On the other hand, Kohli is now at the fag end of his career. He has retired from T20Is and Tests and continues in ODIs with a dream to play the 2027 Cricket World Cup.
As India faces South Africa for three ODIs starting Sunday, the two will be up against each other in one of the key match-ups for the series. Jansen can put Kohli’s World Cup dreams in danger but the legend with most centuries in ODIs can easily bring the lanky pacer to ground. Just as he did in 2018.
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Kohli vs Jansen, Johannesburg Nets, 2018
India toured South Africa for three Tests in 2018-19. Kohli’s men fought hard but lost the first two games and thus the series. The third match was at the Wanderers in Johannesburg.
While India were practicing in the nets ahead of the third match, Indian Express’s reporter Sandeep Dwivedi saw a father sitting in the dugout with his twins. Koos Jansen had brought his sons Marco and Duan to the practice session with hopes of them getting to bowl to Kohli.
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View AllIndian batters kept practicing against Indian bowlers and but after the bowling unit was done and Kohli still wanted to bat more, Marco got his chance.
The lanky left-armer ran hard and bowled to the then India captain who was at his peak. Marco got tired soon but he would manage to beat Kohli a few times.
“Well bowled," Kohli would tell Marco after getting beaten.
Jansen brothers would get a picture with Kohli and go home happy. “This was a once in a lifetime opportunity,” Marco had told the Indian Express.
Kohli vs Jansen match-up
Jansen has had an upper-hand on Kohli with the red ball but in the limited over formats, the Indian legend has dominated the South African.
In Tests, Jansen has dismissed Kohli thrice and the Indian averages just 31.7. Jansen made his Test debut in 2021. Kohli, by then, had certainly passed his prime and that shows in the numbers.
However, Kohli still packs a punch in T20Is and ODIs where Jansen has only had him out once. In T20Is, Kohli has smashed Jansen for 31 runs in 17 deliveries while getting out once while in the 50-over format, Jansen could not dismiss Kohli in the 11 balls he faced in the 2023 World Cup.
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