Marco Jansen's double-edged sword

"I've always been jealous of people who are a bit shorter than me," Marco Jansen told a press conference in Guwahati on Monday.

At 2.08 metres, Jansen is enviably equipped to bowl fast for a living. Like he did by taking 6/48 to put South Africa in complete control of the second Test. And to deposit deliveries from all parts of the batting crease far beyond the boundary, as he showed on Sunday when he hammered seven sixes in his 91-ball 93.

So why would he want a few centimetres lopped off?

"The ball goes over off-stump because I'm so tall," Jansen said. "With a different bowler, like KG, that same delivery is hitting the top of off."

Conversely "when there's a pitch with a bit of pace and bounce I get to extract more out of it. I've tried to learn what's going to work for me; what's going to help me to perform to the best of my ability and help the team win. Today was one of those days. I got the pace and the bounce out of the pitch."

All six of Jansen's strikes came from balls pitched short of a standard length. The pick of the bunch was the snorter he angled into Ravindra Jadeja, which hit the desperately dodging batter on the shoulder before finding the back of his bat and blooping to second slip.

Jansen's raid helped dismiss India 288 runs in arrears. South Africa, mindful of making the home side bat again only once the pitch has deteriorated significantly, did not enforce the follow-on. When bad light forced the close the visitors were 314 ahead with all their wickets intact.

Such a dramatic leap forward in the match didn't seem imminent when Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul took India to 65 without loss. Then wickets started tumbling thanks to Jansen, excellent catching, and some sorry stroke selection.

The latter factor's nadir was reached eight balls into the second session, when Rishabh Pant lurched metres down the pitch to Jansen, slapped recklessly at the ball, and clearly steered an edge to Kyle Verreynne. Rod Tucker rightfully raised his finger. As if Pant hadn't got enough wrong in the moment, he had the temerity to refer.

The best of the catches was Markram's outrageous grab to remove Nitish Reddy off Jansen. Markram sprinted from second slip to where gully might have been, dived with his right arm outstretched, and held on after ball met palm centimetres above the turf. Markram took a record-equalling five catches in total to become the 15th man – and the second South African after Graeme Smith – to claim that many in a Test innings.

Guwahati's pitch has proved as fair as Eden Gardens' was foul. South Africa overcame Kolkata's extreme conditions to wrench victory by 30 runs. Guwahati has rewarded proper play. As Jansen said, "If you bowl well, you will get wickets. If you bat well, you will score runs. You are just going to have to figure out your way of doing it with the bat and with the ball."

So far, the visitors have done far more of that than the Indians. And Jansen has been central to both equations.

He was mortified after chopping on to Kuldeep Yadav with a century in sight on Sunday, which prompted remedial action: "When we went to the hotel, I tried to switch off and blow off some steam. I called the family; I called my brother, sister, mom, dad, you name it. Just to get all those feelings and everything out."

There was a lot of steam to blow off: "I think I had faced three balls when Sen looked at me and said, 'Chom [mate], just breathe.' I thought I was very calm. But he told me to breathe. And that helped massively."

Senuran Muthusamy and Jansen shared 97 off 107 in a match-changing partnership. Muthusamy's measured, almost meditative 109, his first Test century, is also the only hundred of the series. Jansen had dearly hoped to add to that list.

"I've never been in the 90s before; in first-class cricket, nevermind Test cricket. So I was definitely nervous. But I was nervous in my 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s … I was nervous the whole way through."

With Lungi Ngidi and Kagiso Rabada in the dugout wearing substitutes' bibs, maybe Jansen felt reasons to be anxious – Ngidi is 15 centimetres shorter than he is and Kagiso Rabada a further two centimetres south.

Ngidi was recalled to the squad after Rabada was ruled out of the Eden Gardens Test with a rib injury. Rabada missed out again in Guwahati, where Muthusamy was preferred to Ngidi – and what a good decision that turned out to be.

But it has left more on Jansen's shoulders, what with Wiaan Mulder the only other seamer in the XI. Mulder is 23 centimetres shorter than Jansen, so well out of the "bit shorter" range.

"Not having KG is a big loss. It definitely adds responsibility and pressure on myself and Wessie [Mulder] in particular. But whether he plays or doesn't play, I try and think of myself as someone who can also break the game open. I try and give my best every time I get the opportunity to try and put the team in a winning position."

There's no arguing that Jansen hasn't done that in this match. Just like there's no arguing with something else he said: "Test cricket is hard. It doesn't always go your way."

And sometimes it does. Spectacularly.