Karachi [Pakistan], March 2 (ANI): After securing the semi-finals of the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy 2025 on Saturday, South Africa’s left-arm seamer, Marco Jansen, revealed the national team’s game plan for the upcoming knockout games in the marquee event.
South Africa has burst into the final four of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 with a win over England that caught the attention of cricketing fans everywhere.
Topping Group B, finishing ahead of the Aussies (who also qualified for the semi-finals), the Proteas are playing tough and solid cricket that should hold up as the stakes rise.
It’s form they’ll happily back, as they move into the knockout phase. Marco Jansen has been central to that, off the back of a strong performance that earned him Player of the Match honours against England, taking 3/39 off seven overs, along with three catches.
“I wouldn’t say the mindset changes (heading into the semi-finals); it’s just the occasion that’s probably a bit more hyped up, I guess. You try your processes, it’s a fancy term, but for me it’s just you have your steps or your guides that you go into every match and then basically in semi-finals you just try and do that extraordinarily well if that makes sense, whatever that is for you,” he told the media after South Africa’s win over England as quoted by the ICC.
The form suggests the Proteas have all the pieces in place to win the Champions Trophy from here on out.
While wet weather denied the cricketing world a chance to see how they looked against Australia, there’s no question they outclassed an England side stacked with talent.
“I think it was a good team performance all in all. As a bowling unit, I think we did the majority of what we wanted to do or what we planned out or set out to do. And then obviously the batters went out and did their job really nicely,” Jansen said as ICC saying.
Jansen provided some valuable insight into real-time problem-solving with the ball he demonstrated against the English, which will continue to hold him in good stead, when confronted with tricky challenges against some of the world’s best batters.
“I was hoping for some swing, but then obviously there wasn’t too much in the air. There was a little bit of nip at the start, and then once the ball got older, there wasn’t really much deviation from the wicket. For me, it was just backing my options, which is probably hitting at a hard length and not early on the fuller side, rather on the shorter side,” the all-rounder explained.
“For us, it’s just all about going out and bowling with good intent because then if you bowl with good intent … you tend to have more energy on the ball, and then things generally happen,” the 24-year-old player added.
South Africa will only learn of their semi-final opponent after New Zealand meets India on Sunday, with the loser of that game locked into meeting the Proteas. That result will also impact the location, with India based in Dubai.
“For me, it’s just depending on where you play on what lengths to hit and then, as a game develops, then try and figure out what works and what doesn’t work and what to do and what not to do. For me personally, it’s just the occasion or the situation of the game probably changes, not really mentally,” Jansen concluded. (ANI)
