Things got a bit heated up in the middle on an already hot afternoon at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai as Marco Jansen and Mohammad Rizwan had a face-off during Pakistan’s crunch World Cup 2023 clash against South Africa. The Pakistan star tried to calm things down as the battle between bat and ball was at its best early in the contest.
It all began in the 7th over when Marco Jansen put down a tough return catch opportunity. Mohammad Rizwan, facing his first delivery of the innings, was undone by a slower delivery from the tall left-arm pacer and he chipped it to the right of the bowler. Jansen dived to his right and got his hand to the ball only to see it slip out to safety.
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Mohammad Rizwan tried to put the pressure back on Marco Jansen, who had his tail up after removing both the Pakistan openers, as he played a wild heave to a length delivery. The ball hit the top edge of the bat and flew to the boundary at the third-man region. Jansen was not happy with the top-edge flying to a boundary and exchanged a few words with Rizwan. Rizwan also gave it back initially and the umpires had to have a word with the two players in the middle.
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Jansen was fired up even more as he bowled a length delivery that flew to the wicketkeeper. Rizwan chose not to play the delivery that was bowled at some pace. Marco Jansen walked up to Rizwan and had a few more words, seemingly suggesting to Rizwan that he should have thrown his bat at that one too. However, the Pakistan batter calmed things down as he came up with a smile in the middle.
Some heated words exchange between Marco Jansen and Mohammad Rizwan on the field. pic.twitter.com/pz93UxULDR
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Mohammad Rizwan looked to be aggressive and take on the South Africa bowlers after the episode as Pakistan went past 50 inside the 10th over despite losing two early wickets.
Notably, Babar Azam was allowed to get off the mark without any pressure as Jansen bowled two new balls after removing Abdullah Shafique with a bouncer in the 5th over of the contest.
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It was Babar Azam who won the toss and opted to bat but the openers, Abdullah Shafique and Imam-ul-Haque, missed an opportunity to make hay as they were undone by Jansen for 9 and 12, respectively. Pakistan are in need of a win to revive their floundering campaign as they have lost 3 on the bounce, including one to Afghanistan earlier in the week in Chennai.
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