‘He flips that switch on, as soon as he crosses that line’ - Jacob Bethell amused by Virat Kohli’s intensity
England all-rounder Jacob Bethell scored a sparkling half-century in the first ODI against West Indies on his return to the national side from IPL 2025. The 21-year-old feels that his stint with the Royal Challengers Bengaluru and interactions with Virat Kohli has made him a better player.
Bethell’s power game came to the fore during the first ODI in Birmingham as 62 of his total 82 runs came in boundaries with all those but one six coming against the pacers. The England all-rounder credited his stint with RCB in IPL 2025 for the improvements in that aspect of his game.
"I feel like I'm a better player now than I was a couple of months ago," Bethell said. "I don't want to give away everything, it's just the way those batters go about playing spin, they're clinical in how they pick length and the deliveries they try to hit for four and six.
"That was nice, to have more of a power-game input into my game, rather than a bit of touch around spin as well. So then, just trying to mesh the two together would help a lot."
Bethell also mentioned that he gained a lot from interactions with senior and experienced players like Virat Kohli. He opened with Kohli in the two games he played for RCB this season putting together 97 in the second match against Chennai Super Kings where he scored a fifty too. The 21-year-old was also impressed by the Indian batter’s energy, even at this age, the moment he enters the playing field.
"I think he quite enjoys the overseas boys because we're just pretty chill around him," Bethell said. "He's definitely got that feeling. And when he walks out to bat, it's pretty electrifying to walk out with him. It (advice) was just like an accumulation over the couple of months of just chatting to him. You get information that keeps coming in ways that you don't really know, and it's kind of just drip-fed."
"It was just nice to speak to him off and on the field, away from cricket, so yeah, it was just cool to experience someone of his calibre and how he goes about doing things. He's got a certain intensity with him that just kind of… he flips that switch on, as soon as he crosses that line, which is pretty cool to see," the England all-rounder explained.
At a very young age, Bethell is proving his credentials as an all-format player for England. He had an impressive tour of New Zealand during November-December last year where he made it to the team as a substitute for an injured Jordan Cox, who was already replacing Jamie Smith who was on paternity leave. The left-hander was England’s second-highest run-getter behind Harry Brook with a tally of 260 runs, including three fifties, at an average of 52.00. The left-arm spinner also picked up three wickets from the two innings where he got a chance to roll his arm. He had impressed captain Ben Stokes with his performance in New Zealand and the skipper was certain that Bethell would walk into the England squad for the five-Test series against India after missing out on the one-off Test against Zimbabwe.
"I obviously played in New Zealand as a replacement for a replacement (replacing Jordan Cox in the XI, who was covering for Jamie Smith on paternity leave). So whatever happens, it'll be, and when the time comes, it'll be fine,” Bethell concluded.
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