Marco Jansen On Playing Under Shreyas Iyer's Captaincy: 'Doesn't Feels Like A Dictatorship'

Last Updated:April 24, 2026, 12:28 IST

Marco Jansen rates Shreyas Iyer very highly as a captain and said playing under him at Punjab Kings is a ’pleasure’.

Marco Jansen is happy to play under Shreyas Iyer at Punjab Kings (PBKS) as ‘it doesn’t feel like a dictatorship’.

On Thursday, during a media interaction the 25-year-old, 6 foot 8 inch, South Africa pacer opened up on working with Shreyas in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

“Shreyas, as a captain, is definitely up there, if not on top. He’s a pleasure to work with. He knows what he’s doing. He knows what he wants from the players. He motivates and drives us to play our best. It gives us the space to do what we do well, if that makes sense. It’s not a case of it’s his way or the highway type of thing, which I think is a very nice feeling as a bowler and a player," Marco Jansen said.

“He knows what he wants. He knows what he wants to achieve. He’s very goal-driven. He’s very headstrong. It’s very easy to see when we are in meetings and stuff like that, and in training. He’s very driven. I think from a team’s point of view, it’s nice to have a captain like that. So it’s like you sort of just follow his lead.

“He’s up for discussions. He’s always welcoming. It’s never a case of it feels like a dictatorship. He makes everyone feel valued and welcomed. As a player, it’s very, very nice to have a captain like that where you feel you can go to the captain, you can express, or you can speak about certain things about the game. Not just that, but he’ll give his advice, or he’ll give his two cents about it as well, and then he’ll formulate a plan with you to help you get better if need be and to take the team forward and stuff like that, which is nice," he added.

In IPL 2026 so far, Marco has picked up five wickets from six games, coming into bowl mostly as first change bowler after Arshdeep Singh and Xavier Bartlett, even sometimes in tandem with Vijaykumar Vyshak and Yuzvendra Chahal.

The South African isn’t too flustered by his entry into the attack, as he points out that he is adept at bowling in most part of the innings.

“I’m used to taking the first or second over, but I also know that I do have the skills to adapt to whatever situation or to adapt to any situation or any particular time in the match to come in and do a job for the team. Obviously, as a swing bowler or someone who’s used to bowling with the new ball, you do have a weapon in your hand as well. So coming in in the third, fourth, or sometimes fifth over is definitely a different approach that I had to take. But it’s not a case of me thinking that I can’t do a job or I can’t take wickets or thinking, okay, cool, there is my weapon taken away. It’s nothing like that. It’s actually the opposite because Arshdeep and Xavier swing the ball consistently and more than I do," he said.

“It’s a nice place to be at as a bowler and a player and as a bowling unit because we know it doesn’t matter where we bowl, or where Shreyas decides to bowl a certain bowler or a particular bowler. We know there’s a reason behind it, and we know that whoever has the ball in his hands at that particular time, whether it’s in a power play in the middle or at the death, we fully believe and we trust that that guy will do the best job for the team," he added.

When asked technicalities of his own bowling — with regard to bowling the good lengths or going wide at the death — Marco reminded that it has mostly to do with game situations, while point to Josh Hazlewood’s success with consistency.

“There’s no set way of bowling, or there are no preconceived ideas about how I want to go about it. I obviously have the basics that I stick to and that I always do, and I always follow the processes that I follow. But it’s always a case of trying to sum up the conditions as quickly as possible and then finding a way to be as effective as I can be on that particular day," he said.

News cricket Marco Jansen On Playing Under Shreyas Iyer's Captaincy: 'Doesn't Feels Like A Dictatorship'

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