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[Watch] Marco Jansen's Valiant Fielding Effort Nearly Sends Rizwan Back

image-lo8g8vhhJansen bowled an impressive new ball spell [AP]

Promising allrounder Marco Jansen continues to rise in stature for South Africa at the ICC World Cup 2023. The young left-arm pacer and capable middle-order bat, who has been key to South Africa's balance and playing combination, made an immediate impact with the ball in the critical encounter against Pakistan on Friday (October 27). 

Jansen got rid of the opposition's in-form opening batter Abdullah Shafique with a perfectly directed bouncer, which the right-hander couldn't keep down and sent to the hands of the square-leg fielder. The speedster then dismissed Shafique's top-order partner Imam-Ul-Haq out caught at the point region to push Pakistan into a corner at 38/2. 

The young turk nearly built further inroads into the opposition line-up with another crucial breakthrough of Pakistan's middle-order stalwart Mohammad Rizwan. For what could've been his third successive breakthrough with the new-ball, the 23-year-old almost had Rizwan caught & bowled with a valiant dive. 

Jansen Nearly Sends Rizwan Back With A Great Take

As Rizwan pushed forward with his defensive prod to a smartly disguised cutter from Jansen, the wicketkeeper-batter hit the ball in the air dangerously close to the right hand of the Proteas allrounder, who dived bravely against his initial angle to almost secure another important wicket.

It would've been a tremendous catch from Jansen if he had an extra split second to cover for the ball travelling towards the short mid-on region. But despite the missed opportunity, one couldn't help but laud over the bowler's magnificent effort for a catch off his own bowling. 

Jansen proved the old 'bowlers are best fielders off their own bowling' adage right with his eye-catching attempt to nearly bag Rizwan's wicket. The tall cricketer brought all his height into play but the ball still just evaded his hand by a few inches, leaving him frustrated since it involved a key batter. 

Had South Africa dismissed Pakistan's consistent middle-order man without him opening his account and reduced the opposition to 38/3 inside 9 overs, they would've taken a giant stride towards pulling off another important win and storming through to the knock-outs stage.