Jump back to 2018. India were touring South Africa, and were training at the Wanderers ahead of the third Test. Among the net bowlers were these twin brothers, 17 years of age, left-arm quicks both, both nearly seven feet tall. They seemed to have caught Virat Kohli’s eye, who promptly summoned them over to his net. And for a good two hours, they gave him a solid working net session. So much so that the skipper was generous with his praise, posing for pictures as well at the end of it.

“Well bowled”.

Cut to 2021. Mumbai Indians’ final overseas pick was a certain 20-year-old Marco Jansen. Who was he? What had MI’s scouts unearthed? And thus, with the media going into overdrive, came the revelation of him being one of the brothers. Within the next six months, he’d become a regular Proteas Test player.

Cut to 2023, the 15-minute-older brother is now with us.

“No, no Marcus hasn’t warned me about anything at MI,” Duan Jansen says with a chuckle in an exclusive interview with mumbaiindians.com. “He just said I must go and enjoy it.”

“Actually the thing is that we have never played against each other. We really want to play against each other. So I’m very excited, and hopefully we get that opportunity.

“Obviously everyone knows my brother. But I’m different. We may do the same thing on the field, but I'm a different human being and bring something different to the table. So I just want to showcase myself and show people who I am.”

The Jansens are a large sporting family, with their father, Koos Jansen, being a former rugby player for Free State Cheetahs. From school cricket to age-group cricket, the brothers have been sort of prodigies. With the ability to clock serious pace, and the fact that they shot up vertically very early in life, the two of them have stood out from a distance, literally. So much so that it got them a net with the Indian team.

“Our Head Coach at the stadium told us we could go there and bowl to the Indian cricket team. You want to bowl at the Indian superstars and the international players; we were very excited. Luckily, we bowled well on that day and caught the attention of Virat Kohli himself. He then called us over to his net to bowl to him. It was good bowling to him and seeing where our skills were at against one of the best players in the world.”

If the fire in the belly ever needed a stoking, this was it.

And now, there’s another fire waiting to be stoked in the Jansen household today (April 18) as MI take on SRH. There’s no way in hell you’re conceding the bragging rights to your brother.