Jansen: Bumrah incident part of the passion of 'playing for your country'

SA’s towering fast bowler Marco Jansen says “there are no hard feelings” between him and Jasprit Bumrah after the young speedster had a chest-to-chest moment with the Indian seamer on day three of the second Test at the Wanderers.

With SA 1-0 down in the series and the stakes heightened as the second match kept swinging, the pair had a heated exchange of words after Jansen bounced Bumrah with a short-pitched delivery in the 55th over of India’s second innings.

South African umpire Marais Erasmus had to come between the 2.03m Jansen and Bumrah, who is 1.78m, in a match India lost by seven wickets for SA to draw level, winning the next game at Newlands by the same margin to take the Freedom Test Series 2-1.

“Obviously I have played with Bumrah in the IPL [for the Mumbai Indians] and we are good friends. But sometimes things get heated on the field and you are not going to back down against anyone because you are playing for your country,” Jansen said.

He said his incident with Bumrah was just a heated moment with two players giving it their all for their countries.

Jansen said all the emotions he showed were a demonstration of his passion for the game.

“Off the field I look like a very chilled or quiet guy — I am bit of an introvert to be honest. But when I am on the field that is the one place where I like to express myself often, especially playing the sport that I love and the sport that I wanted to play since I was a child,” he said.

“All those emotions just show the passion and the love I have for the game. If there is one place where I feel I can show my passion and emotions, it is on the field.”

Klerksdorp-born Jansen took 19 wickets his debut series.

“I am very glad to have got the opportunity to play and contribute to the team the way I did,” he said. “I did not expect it to go as well as it did. Obviously, I hoped to do well but I did not expect to do that well.

“I’m just very glad to have contributed to the team and obviously we are very glad that we have won the series. India have not won in our conditions and we just want to keep it that way.”

After a stellar Test introduction, Jansen cracked the nod for the Proteas ODI squad that will do duty in the three-match series against India starting in Paarl on Wednesday.