Proteas fast bowler Marco Jansen delivered a match-winning performance at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur on Tuesday, helping the Punjab Kings to an emphatic victory over the defending champions.
Jansen picked up 3/17 in 3.1 overs against the Kolkata Knight Riders, his best figures in the 2025 edition of the Indian Premier League thus far.
The lanky left-arm fast bowler had endured a slow start with the ball since arriving in India last month, taking only three wickets in five games and going wicketless in two consecutive games leading up to the victory over the defending champions on Tuesday.
Jansen got the first wicket for the Punjab Kings at home defending a small total of 112 runs having as he got the better of the dangerous Sunil Narine at the top of the order.
The Award for best comeback goes to...😉 pic.twitter.com/TlWV0EivZ9
With Jansen having laid a solid foundation with the new ball, the rest of the Punjab Kings bowling attack followed suit, picking up two more wickets including that of former Proteas captain Quinton de Kock.
The Kolkata Knight Riders fought back bravely until Jansen was brought back into the attack. The 24-year-old got the wicket of Harshit Rana, breaking the momentum that the visitors had built as they got closer to the target.
After Rana's wicket, only one batter stood in the way of the Punjab Kings way and it was the Carribean born Andre Russell.
As long as he big-hitting Russell was at the crease, the Kolkata Knight Riders had a chance and Russell proved it as he smashed two sixes and one four in only 10 balls.
However, it was Jansen's night to shine in Mullanpur as the left-arm fast bowler bowled Russell out with the first ball of his fourth and final over, handing the Punjab Kings a 16-run victory, one that took them to fourth place in the standings.