South African fast bowling all-rounder Marco Johnson gave an interesting verdict when he was asked to name the batsmen against whom he faced the most difficulties. Surprisingly, he did not take the name of Indian cricket icon and Royal Challengers Bangalore veteran Virat Kohli.
Marco Johnson has emerged as one of the most exciting talents in modern cricket. The all-format all-rounder, who is mostly known for his fast bowling skills, is currently playing for Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the ongoing IPL 2026 season.
Against whom does Marco Jansson face the most difficulties?
When Jensen was asked to name the toughest batsmen to bowl to in the shortest format of the game, he named the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) openers. According to Jensen, Indian opener Abhishek Sharma and Australian opener Travis Head are the toughest batsmen to bowl to in T20.
“The toughest batsman [to bowl to] maybe it’s Abhishek [Sharma] and travis [Head]. It is very difficult to bowl against both of them in the powerplay. Marco Jensen said, to be honest, I am not looking forward to bowling to any batsman in T20 cricket.
The fast bowler also mentioned Virat Kohli
He further said that he would love to go head-to-head against Virat Kohli as he is one of the best batsmen of this era.
“But yes, I think probably someone I would enjoy going against is Virat Kohli. He is one of the big players in the tournament,” he said.
Virat Kohli’s record against Protea pacers is normal. In the Indian Premier League, Jensen has dismissed Kohli and restricted him to a strike rate of 137.50. In his limited overs IPL matchups, Kohli scored 11 runs in 2 innings against Jensen. When Proteus was 17, he surprised the star batsman in a net session.
Kohli’s record against Protea fast bowler is modest
In the Twenty20 format, Marco Jansen has little competition from Virat Kohli. The fast bowler has bowled 19 balls so far (7 balls in 2021 and 15 balls in 2025) and has allowed only 26 runs to the batsman at a strike rate of 136.8. During this, he dismissed Virat on one occasion. Virat Kohli’s batting average against seamers in T20 is only 26.00, which is not that impressive considering his height.
In the ongoing Indian Premier League, Marco Jansen and Virat Kohli are expected to face each other when Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) face each other for the IPL 2026 match. PBKS vs RCB, the much-awaited match 61st match of the season is scheduled on 17th May. In the afternoon, the match will start at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamshala.
At the moment, PBKS under Shreyas Iyer is on top of the IPL 2026 points table as the only undefeated team so far in this edition. And Rajat Patidar-led defending champions RCB are placed second on the points table and are looking strong to seal a place in the play-offs again.
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