Jasprit Bumrah played down last week’s on-field altercation with Marco Jansen and the palpable nervous energy that has followed in the third Test against South Africa in Cape Town. He said the argument ‘ended’ in Johannesburg (2nd Test) and the duo had “moved on in life”, with their present focus only being on the match at hand.
Jasprit Bumrah and Marco Jansen, former teammates at the Mumbai Indians, were involved in a heated exchange in the middle of the pitch in the second Test. The incident took place after the South African hit Jasprit Bumrah on the body with a few bouncers.
The Indian pacer got his revenge on Wednesday(3rd Test) by softening Marco Jansen with a short-ball barrage and then clean-bowling him for 7. He even followed it with a cold stare, but no words were exchanged between them.
Jasprit Bumrah Said He Didn’t Have Any Conversation Marco Jansen Even Once In The 3rd Test
At the post-day press conference, Jasprit Bumrah was asked to talk about their chats. He replied that they haven’t had any on-field tiffs or “even eye contact” in this Test, adding that both teams(India and South Africa) are trying to play the way they want to.
“I don’t remember having any conversation with him even once (in this match). Whatever happened in the last game, it ended there and we have moved forward in life. In this game, I don’t remember having a discussion or even eye contact with him. But yeah we are focussing on what our team has to do, the opposition can do whatever they want to do. We are trying to follow our processes and our contributions to get the team to a good position,” Jasprit Bumrah said.
Jasprit Bumrah not only got Marco Jansen out but also took four more wickets to register his seventh five-wicket haul in Test cricket. His blistering spell of 5-42 helped India get the hosts out for 210, 13 runs short of India’s first-innings total.
Marco Jansen had played in two matches picking 2 scalps for Mumbai Indians in IPL 2021 before his debut for South Africa. In his debut Test series, he is already 2nd highest wicket-taker with 17 wickets averaging 17.53.
Jasprit Bumrah Didn’t Plan Anything Out Of The Ordinary As He Was Focusing On Routine Process
Jasprit Bumrah’s fifer was even more special following his lackluster outing with the ball in the previous match, with critics starting to write him off. But the pacer didn’t attribute his improved performance to this criticism, saying he didn’t pay “any extra” attention to it in the leadup to this Test and kept his focus intact on his usual preparation.
The 28-year-old said: “Nothing out of the ordinary. I was just focussing on what I had to do, my routines and my processes… or whatever has to be done when I prepare for a Test match. Nothing out of the ordinary, I was not giving any extra attention on I was not really too angry. I was just focussing on what I had to do and trying to be in the present.”
Jasprit Bumrah and South African pacer Marco Jansen were involved in a heated exchange after the latter peppered the Indian tailender with bouncers in the 2nd Test. The altercation reminded fans and experts of the Jasprit Bumrah-James Anderson verbal duel during the Lord’s Test last year.
Cheteshwar Pujara (9) and Ajinkya Rahane (1) fell cheaply again as India endured a poor start on Day 3 of the third and final Test in Centurion. Marco Jansen and Kagiso Rabada shared the opening dismissals on the third day as captain Virat Kohli is joined by Rishabh Pant.
A 50-run partnership came up between Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant as India is well placed at 120/4 after 41 overs, leading by 133 runs. Virat Kohli is batting on 28 off 125 balls while Rishabh Pant has batted aggressively again scoring 41 runs off 50 balls.