Jansen reveals Ponting’s parting IPL gift ahead of WTC Final

Marco Jansen has revealed the piece of sage advice he recently received from Australian great Ricky Ponting that has the South African quick in top form ahead of the ICC World Test Championship Final.

Jansen was in scintillating form during the recent Indian Premier League (IPL) season, with the towering left-armer collecting 16 wickets from 14 matches for the Punjab Kings under the expert coaching of Ponting prior to meeting up with his international teammates ahead of the World Test Championship Final against Australia at Lord’s from June 11.

It’s the first time that Jansen's path has crossed with Ponting's and the South African has been supremely impressed with what the Punjab Kings coach achieved in his first year in charge of the franchise, as he led the side to a runners-up finish behind eventual champions Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Ricky Ponting was the head coach of Marco Jansen this year at the Punjab Kings in the IPL // Photo by Arjun Singh / Sportzpics for IPL

Jansen said Ponting had instilled great confidence in his bowling since he joined up with the Kings earlier this year and he is planning to use that newfound belief when the Proteas take on Australia in the one-off Ultimate Test.

"Before I left (India), he (Ponting) just said 'good luck, I hope you do well, but I hope you lose’," Jansen told ICC Digital from Arundel on Tuesday after the opening day of South Africa's warm-up match against Zimbabwe was washed out due to persistent rain.

"I learnt a lot from him, especially from a mental point of view. He is always positive and he always sees the good stuff instead of the bad stuff, if it makes sense.

"And I think that's why he's a legend of the game, because you always lean towards what could happen instead of what could go wrong. For me personally in the IPL, he's helped a lot in that regard, because he always reminds you what could be, what you can do and what could happen instead of what couldn't happen."

Recently, the Proteas announced that recently retired fast bowler Stuart Broad would join the team in a consulting role prior to the World Test Championship Final and this has Jansen excited about what advice he might receive from the England legend.

Broad was known to get under the skin of Australia's batters during his illustrious Test career and took more than 110 wickets at the iconic Lord's venue alone and Jansen plans to pick the right-armer's brain prior to the start of the one-off Test in north London.

“Obviously ,he's played a lot against Australia at Lord’s,” Jansen said of Broad.

“Maybe I will pick his brain on what they did back then or what they did when he was playing to get certain batters out. And then, because I mean, you can ask all those questions and you can try and do it, but it doesn't mean it's going to work necessarily.

"You might get a guy out with a ball that you never even planned bowling. So it's good to have the information. But like I said, once you're on the pitch on that day, you have to figure it out for yourself and then whatever plan you have or plan you think could work, just try and do that and you hope it pays off and you hope you execute well."