Marco Jansen Quick Facts: Meet the 20-Year-Old South African Pacer as He Makes IPL Debut for Mumbai Indians
Although the Mumbai Indians squad is studded with T20 stalwarts with Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard in the ranks, skipper Rohit Sharma took an unfamiliar name while naming Mumbai's playing XI against RCB in IPL 2021 Season Opener. Left-arm South African pacer Marco Jansen was named in the line-up over the likes of Adam Milne and Nathan Coulter-Nile.
Defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) aim to make a winning start in VIVO Indian Premier League (IPL) as they take on Virat Kohli's Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the season opener at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Although the MI squad is studded with T20 stalwarts with Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard in the ranks, skipper Rohit Sharma took an unfamiliar name while naming Mumbai's playing XI in the toss session. Left-arm South African pacer Marco Jansen was named in the line-up over the likes of Adam Milne and Nathan Coulter-Nile. During IPL 2021 auction, MI bagged the 20-year-old's services for his base price of INR 20 lakh. MI vs RCB Score Updates of VIVO IPL 2021.
The nearly seven-foot pacer can bowl at a good pace and is known for his ability to nail yorkers at will. While Jansen might be a new name for several fans, Zaheer Khan, MI's director of cricket operations, said after the auction that they were expecting a bidding war for the bowler. That obviously didn't happen as no franchise except for MI bid for the franchise. After the auction, Team owner Akash Ambani said Mumbai had been "tracking Marco for the last two years." Well, Mumbai Indians are known to groom the youngsters, and it will be interesting to see if Jansen also relishes in the blue and golden jersey. Meanwhile, let's look at some quick facts after the Proteas prodigy. Chris Lynn Receives His Cap From Captain Rohit Sharma, Makes His Mumbai Indians Debut.
Marco Jansen Quick Facts:
# Marco Jansen was born on May 01, 2000, in Johannesburg, South Africa.
# MI bought the left-arm pacer for his base price of INR 20 lakh during IPL 2021 auction.
# His brother Duan Jansen is also a left-arm fast bowler.
# Standing at six feet eight inches, he is one of the tallest players in IPL history.
# Jansen troubled Virat Kohli during a net session during India's 2018 tour of South Africa.
Meanwhile, RCB skipper Virat Kohli opted to field after winning the toss in the season opener. Apart from Jansen, dashing Australian opener Chris Lynn also makes debut for Mumbai Indians after warming the benches last season. For RCB, Glenn Maxwell, Kyle Jamieson, Daniel Christian and Rajat Patidar make debut.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 09, 2021 08:21 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).