Virat Kohli vs Marco Jansen Chapter 1: A little known first meeting between a legend and a net bowler at the Wanderers
Early birds mostly get the worm, sometimes journalists landing on cricketing greens too soon also get rewarded. This is a story about the serendipitous sighting of an international cricket star. It also comes with a reminder – every acclaimed wicket-taker was once a modest net bowler. Like South Africa’s all-rounder Marco Jansen – the chief script writer of South Africa’s historic 2-0 Test against India – was once.
This week during the Guwahati Test, on a pitch more suited for spinners, Marco got wickets with his pace and bounce. He also smashed 7 sixes in his 91-ball 94 when most host batsmen struggled.
But South Africa’s ‘find of the 2025 series’ had presented his calling to the Indians, Virat Kohli specifically, six years back as a 17-year-old net bowler. How times change? Marco, the pacer on an ascendency, fresh from bothering the Indians with his brutal bounce, will test Kohli in the ODI series that could decide his international future. He could possibly be his highest hurdle, if he plans to be around for the 2027 World Cup.
Unlike at Ranchi, where the entire town and MS Dhoni is expected to turn-up for the first ODI, the first Kohli-Marco face-off took place at the training arena at the Wanderers. This was January, 2018.
It was an hour before India’s net session before the final Test of the series they had already lost, a father and his twins were seen sitting in a dusty dugout. Spotting an Indian journalist, they got talking. It turned out, the father of the two budding pacers, Koos Jansen, had driven for an hour and a half from Potchefstroom to be at the Wanderers.
India’s Virat Kohli bats in the nets ahead of the 1st ODI match against South Africa in Ranchi.
The two lanky 17-year-olds, incredibly tall for their age, wearing identical maroon tracks, hadn’t slept much the night earlier, dreaming of bowling to Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. They played for their school team but they had the ‘look and feel’ of potential internationals. The taller of the two was Marco and the other was Duan. The father was a rugby player who had quit after an injury when 38 and had pushed his sons into cricket because of their frame. Fast bowling was an easy option to choose. With mother a netball player of repute, they had sporting genes.
Their big day at the India nets didn’t unfold the way the two brothers had imagined. By afternoon, Marco and Duan looked faded. On that tour, India had way too many pacers. With Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Shardul Thakur and Navdeep Saini around, the net-bowlers sat twiddling their thumbs.
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All the Jansen boys got to do was fetch balls that the Indian batters hit to the adjoining rugby arena. Marco once tried to hold on to a miss-hit but failed. Nothing was going his way. Marco would soon stroll to his father and make a face. The caring parent would ask him to soak in the experience. The boy wasn’t buying that optimism. As the Indian batsmen started moving to the main stadium, he sat glum, the tragedy of missing the chance of bowling to his hero, written on his face.
2018
17-year-old Marco bowls to Kohli at Wanderers nets. Receives “well bowled” compliment
2021
Test debut at Centurion. Dismisses Kohli on first ball bowled to him in international cricket
2025
Leads South Africa to historic 2-0 Test series win over India. Smashes 94 off 91 balls
Next
ODI series at Ranchi. Marco now SA’s leading new-ball bowler faces Kohli
What’s At Stake in Ranchi
Virat Kohli
ODI series performance could decide his 2027 World Cup future. Marco described as his “highest hurdle”
Marco Jansen
Pacer on ascendancy looking to conquer final frontier – dismissing Kohli in ODI format
Indian Express InfoGenIE
A compliment and a picture
That’s when Kohli decided he wanted to bat more. The assistant coach looked at the net bowlers and shouted – Any left-arm pacer there?. The Jansen brothers jumped out of the dug-out in an instant and were soon bowling to Kohli. Marco would beat the master batsman a few times. Kohli would shake his head and say “well bowled”. They would run harder, bowl faster but get tired soon.
South Africa’s Marco Jansen bowls a delivery on the third day of the second cricket test match between India and South Africa in Guwahati, India, Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)
As Kohli ended his training, the father would shout – “Boys, get a picture with the great man.” The teenagers were reluctant but eventually mustered courage and approached Kohli. A member of the Indian support staff team would take a picture. The taller of the twins would Whatsapp the picture to the journalist. More shy than he was when receiving the Man of the Match after the Guwahati Test last week, Marco would share his experience of bowling to Kohli. “This was a once in a lifetime opportunity,” he would say.
How wrong he was or was the young boy underplayed his potential? In three years time, in 2021, India toured South Africa again. By now Marco had made rapid strides, he was part of the South Africa’s Test side. He would make his debut in the first Test at Centurion.
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Kohli was still the captain but not the batsman he once was. His last Test hundred was two years back. In the first innings, Marco didn’t get a chance to bowl to Kohli. In the second, Marco was on top of the run-up bowling to the legend who had said ‘well bowled’ to him at the Wanderers net.
In a theatrical coincidence, Marco would get Kohli on his first ball. It was the usual Kohli dismissal – caught behind trying the poke at a ball angled away by the left-arm pacer. He would get Kohli two more times in Tests and once in a T20 game. In ODIs he has bowled 11 balls to the Indian star without success.
With Kohli to bat at No.3 and Marco, South Africa’s leading new ball now, the fascinating duel with a compelling back story continues.
