Follow UsTake a five-wicket haul and score a fifty. It is a feat achieved very rarely and to do that while being a pacer from a SENA country (South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia) and playing in India in conditions favouring spinners is a monumental task.
It is so tough to do that even the spin-bowling all-rounders from those countries have not been able to do that regularly. The toughness of that can be gauged from the fact that Marco Jansen became the first South African to achieve that rare double.
He took 6/48 in Guwahati on November 24 (Monday) to bowl out India for 201 in their first innings in the second Test of the two-match series between the two sides.
The tall pacer had earlier smashed 93 with the bat in South Africa’s first innings, helping his side reach a mammoth 489. With his six-wicket haul, he managed to give the Proteas an impressive 288-run lead.
Prior to Jansen, great all-rounders from South Africa like Jacques Kallis, Shaun Pollock and Lance Klusener did come to India on multiple occasions, but couldn’t do what Jansen did in only his first visit to play Tests.
Here’s a list of feats that Jansen achieved with the historic double
Best figures for a left arm pacer against India in India in Tests
7/46 - J Lever (ENG), Delhi, 1976
7/67 - G Dymock (AUS), Kanpur, 1979
7/93 - A Davidson (AUS), Kanpur, 1959
6/48 - M Jansen (SA), Guwahati, 2025
Pacers to hit 50+ score & take a five-wicket haul in a Test against India in India
B Taylor (NZ) - 105 & 5/86, Kolkata, 1965
J Lever (ENG) - 53 & 10/53, Delhi, 1976
I Botham (ENG) - 114 & 13/106, Mumbai, 1980
M Marshall (WI) - 54 & 9/102, Kolkata, 1983
J Holder (WI) - 52 & 5/73, Hyderabad, 2018
M Jansen (SA) - 93 & 5/43*, Guwahati, 2025