Punjab Kings opened the Indian Premier League season unbeaten in their first six games, and Marco Jansen says that run has as much to do with the bowling as with the high-scoring batting that has drawn headlines.
Jansen, the 25-year-old seamer who has taken five wickets in five matches, told a newspaper that the focus on big hitting misses the point of what has made the team click. "All the attention is around the batting, and that’s understandable — people want to see big sixes. However, as a unit, the bowlers know exactly what each of us brings to the table. It’s not about one standout performer, instead about everyone contributing and executing their role," he said.
The numbers underline his claim: six games unbeaten for the side, and Jansen himself quietly doing the job at the top of the bowling attack with five wickets in five matches. He listed Arshdeep Singh, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Xavier Bartlett and Yuzvendra Chahal as the seamers and spinners who have formed that attack and said the group has a plan for different situations.
That plan, Jansen said, is tuned to conditions and match state. "A lot depends upon the situation and conditions. Arshdeep and Bartlett swing the ball consistently, and I understand that I bring different skills and am used to open with first or second over. As a unit, we focus on what’s best for the team rather than individual roles," he added, laying out a division of labour that he said the bowlers trust.
Context matters here: the early unbeaten streak has been narrated largely as a batting success, but Jansen pressed for balance in the narrative. He pointed to moments when the bowlers had to hold their nerve, even in games where the scoreboard glittered for the batters, and he stressed that the attack functions as a unit rather than a collection of individuals trying to chase personal glory.
Still, the sequence is not without its fault lines. Jansen himself noted that Punjab Kings conceded 200 while defending a high total, a blunt reminder that balance can wobble even in an unbeaten side. He tempered the unbeaten record with that admission and described how role clarity and timing of changes are central to preventing repetitions of such oversights. "Arshdeep is very consistent, and we complement each other well. There’s always a plan behind who bowls when, and we trust each other to do the job," Jansen said.
That trust, he said, is anchored in leadership. Jansen praised Shreyas Iyer as an inspirational and headstrong leader who prefers a collaborative approach, crediting the skipper with fostering the team environment that lets bowlers and batters alike execute their roles. The 25-year-old seamer framed his own responsibilities — opening the bowling at times and filling other overs at others — as part of a broader blueprint plotted by the captain and coaching staff.
The immediate question for Punjab Kings is whether that balance between loud batting and steady bowling can hold as the tournament proceeds. Jansen’s account suggests the team thinks so: the bowlers have clear roles, the seamers who can swing the ball do so consistently, and the group speaks of contribution rather than individual heroics. Whether the unbeaten string stretches longer will depend on the same thing Jansen emphasised — collective execution.
For Jansen personally, the run has been a statement in progress: five wickets in five matches and regular opening spells have given him a platform to stress teamwork over headlines. He left the interview returning the focus to the captain and the unit, and to a practical sentence that captured his take on the campaign so far: it is not about one standout performer but about everyone contributing and executing their role. If that remains true, the unbeaten start will look less like a hot streak and more like the foundation of a team built to defend leads and chase targets in equal measure.
