Cape Town, Jan 15 (IANS): Former South Africa opener Ashwell Prince showered praise on young seamer, Marco Jansen, for not backing down in the battle against Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah during the Test series.
He said Jansen put his country over his "relationships in the IPL in the battle against the Indian pacer".
Both Bumrah and Jansen were part of the Mumbai Indians squad in IPL 2021. Bumrah has been retained by the five-time IPL champions, while the Proteas pacer will enter the auction.
During the second innings of the second Test in Johannesburg, Janson and Bumrah were involved in a heated altercation. Bumrah responded with a stare after dismissing the SA pacer in the first innings of the third Test.
But Prince was impressed with Jansen, who also picked 19 wickets in his debut series.
"One more thing I particularly enjoyed during #SAvIND series, the fact that #MarcoJansen didn't back down once in the battle with Bumrah! He didn't think about the IPL and how it might affect his relationships with people there. He put his country 1st, the way it should be," Prince wrote on his official Twitter profile.
"Well done kid, don't ever change. You be you and if people can't respect you for being you, being competitive, putting your country 1st. That's their problem. Sport is about competing, not giving an inch and upholding the spirit of the game. Not about bank balances. #lesson2youth," Prince said.
The hosts registered a 2-1 series win over India after chasing down 212 in the final Test in Cape Town on Friday.