2nd Test: SA Pacer Marco Jansen Defends Rishabh Pant's Aggressive Approach Amidst Criticism, 'Conversations Might Have Been Different...'

India vs South Africa 2nd Test: Rishabh Pant's bold approach against Marco Jansen has drawn criticism, but the South African pacer believes India wicketkeeper-batter's intent was sound.

Pant's wicket, however, exposed India's vulnerability, with the team struggling at 102 for 4. Jansen's well-directed short ball was decisive as it took the edge off Pant's bat, and was pouched by the keeper.

Replying to a query of whether he was surprised by Pant's selection of shot, Jansen replied: "It's not that things will always be going your way. So there are times where Rishabh Pant would have hit that one fifty rows back, straight back over my head and then we would be having a different conversation."

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Jansen adjusted his strategy early on, identifying the absence of movement in the air and off the pitch, which ultimately paid off on Day 3.

Having taken South Africa close to 500 (489) with a superb 93 off 91 balls on day two, Jansen accomplished the star turn with the ball too, by holding 6 for 48 in India's little first innings score of 201.

"To be honest, the ball wasn't nipping as much like in Kolkata so we had to figure out a plan. When I got my first wicket (Dhruv Jurel) with a bouncer, we said, 'okay cool, let's see how long this is going to work for' and yeah, it just came off," Jansen said.

While India's spinner Kuldeep Yadav had termed the Barsapara track as a "road", Jansen gave a divergent view, dubbing it a "sporting one".

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"It's a good wicket to bat on. There's good pace, good bounce if you play the short ball well, you'll score runs and if you bowl well, you'll get wickets," Jansen said.