Marco Jansen ignores Virat Kohli picks best batter he has bowled to in IPL

South African pace bowling all-rounder Marco Jansen made an interesting call when he was asked to name the batters against whom he faced the most difficulties. Surprisingly, he did not name the Indian cricket icon and the Royal Challengers Bengaluru stalwart Virat Kohli.

In modern cricket, Marco Jansen has emerged as one of the most exciting talents. The all-format all-rounder, who is mostly known for pace bowling skills, is currently playing for the Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the ongoing IPL 2026 season.

Against whom does Marco Jansen face the most difficulties?

When Jansen was asked to name the most difficult batters to bowl he has ever faced in the shortest format of the game, he named the openers of the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). According to Jansen, the Indian opener Abhishek Sharma and the Australian opener Travis Head are the toughest batters to bowl to in T20s.

“The most difficult batters [to bowl to] are probably Abhishek [Sharma] and Travis [Head]. It’s very, very tough to bowl against those two in a Powerplay. To be honest, I don’t look forward to bowling to any batter in T20 cricket,” Marco Jansen said.

The pacer mentioned Virat Kohli as well

He further stated that he would love to go one-on-one against Virat Kohli as he is one of the most decorated batters in this era.

“But yeah, I think probably someone I’ll probably enjoy going against is Virat Kohli. He’s one of the bigger players in the tournament,” he added.

Virat Kohli has a moderate record against the Protea pacer. In the Indian Premier League, Jansen has dismissed Kohli and restricted him to a 137.50 strike rate. In their limited IPL matchups, Kohli scored 11 runs off 2 innings against Jansen. When the Protean was 17 years old, he caught the star batter by surprise in net sessions.

Kohli has a modest record against the Protea pacer

In the Twenty20 format, Marco Jansen has a very limited match-up with Virat Kohli. The fast bowler has so far delivered 19 balls (7 balls in 2021 and 15 balls in 2025) and allowed the batter to score only 26 runs for a strike rate of 136.8. During this time, he dismissed Virat on one occasion. In T20, Virat Kohli’s batting average against the seamers is only 26.00, which is not so impressive according to his stature.

In the ongoing Indian Premier League, Marco Jansen and Virat Kohli are expected to lock horns when the Punjab Kings (PBKS) and the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) square off for an IPL 2026 fixture. PBKS vs RCB, the highly anticipated match is scheduled for the 61st match of the season, on May 17. In the afternoon, the match will commence at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamshala.

As of now, PBKS, under the leadership of Shreyas Iyer, is leading the IPL 2026 points table as the only undefeated team in this edition so far. And RCB, the defending champion, led by Rajat Patidar, is ranked second in the points table and is looking strong to confirm a play-off spot again.

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