Cliff Notes – It was ‘electrifying’ to walk out with Virat Kohli at RCB
- Jacob Bethell praised Virat Kohli’s commanding presence, describing it as ‘electrifying’ to bat alongside him during their time at Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
- Bethell’s recent performance included a rapid 82 runs off 53 balls and a notable bowling figure of 1 for 18, showcasing his growth and adaptability after limited play in the IPL.
Bethell: It was ‘electrifying’ to walk out with Virat Kohli at RCB
“He’s definitely got that… whatever they say nowadays… ‘aura’.”
The “they” Jacob Bethell refers to when searching for the term used to describe someone who commands attention and keeps it, is “kids”. The “he” is Virat Kohli, of course, his recent Royal Challengers Bengaluru teammate.
Mentions of Kohli are always good for business, but in this case it is a little less transactional. Bethell, only 21 but not au fait with modern online slang, was speaking after a devastating innings of 82 off 53 deliveries that killed Thursday’s first ODI against West Indies as a contest, even if it was not the sole difference in the eventual 238-run margin.
A player-of-the-match turn – he also took 1 for 18 with the ball – had come after close to two months of bench-warming at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. In that period, he had played just twice, though that included a maiden IPL half-century in the last of those against Chennai Super Kings. It added up to a very small part in RCB’s qualification for their fourth IPL final, and their quest for that elusive maiden title.
Yet there were evidently no splinters or rust to shake off, just a bit of strain from hotel-hopping which – even for someone with a nomadic upbringing that involved swapping Barbados for Birmingham at the age of 12 – still takes some getting used to.
“The only thing I struggle with is the beds,” Bethell said. “A lot of these hotel beds are way too soft. I’ve got a bad back and I’m only 21, so we need to sort that out!”
Not that there were any signs of a creaking body as he blammed all but 20 of his runs in boundaries. Five of them were crisp sixes – as many as the five ahead of him in the top six – with four of them coming in a final 10-over blitz that carried England, eventually, to 400 for 8.
Virat Kohli and Jacob Bethell wait to walk out to bat Getty Images
“I feel like I’m a better player now than I was a couple of months ago,” Bethell said, lauding the practice facilities and the quality of net bowlers he had encountered on a day-to-day basis at the IPL. It’s a sentiment that is now commonplace among Engish players who need to justify getting paid decent money not to play cricket in India, rather than play County cricket in April and May.
His innings against West Indies, however, adds an important undertone of sincerity, particularly when Bethell elaborates on his learnings against spin in particular, a usual sticking point for England’s 50-over team. Gudakesh Motie emerged from England’s onslaught broadly unscathed, with 0 for 39 from 7 overs. However, Bethell was able to strike 10 off four balls from the left-arm spinner, including the only boundary off Motie – a slog-sweep into the stands at midwicket.
“I don’t want to give away everything,” Bethell said. “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.”
As for his interactions with Kohli and that exposure to the “aura”: that included invaluable time spent with the cricketer and the man. They opened together during Bethell’s twin appearances, sharing a 97-run stand on the second occasion as they pocketed half-centuries in an RCB win.
Jacob Bethell is all smiles after he and Joe Root got England over the line AFP/Getty Images
“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.”
As far as mimicking Kohli’s career path, Bethell’s already playing catch-up. He may only turn 22 in October, but he’s trailing on a number of fronts, not least the century count. By 21, Kohli had eight of the 101 he currently possesses across formats, including four in first-class cricket. Bethell is still without one in 119 innings, with Thursday’s knock his fourth-highest score as a professional.
Squint, however, and you could make out the merest hint of Kohli in the shifting of gears and manner in which Bethell was imposing himself on an admittedly wayward West Indian attack. Even in these early stages, it is clear Bethell’s approach to batting focuses on heaping pressure on others rather than feeling it himself.
That may even include his own teammates. Just as the dust had settled from Ben Stokes’ double-speak at last week’s Zimbabwe Test – when he was quizzed on what Bethell’s eventual reintroduction might mean for Ollie Pope’s spot in the XI – the left-hander’s firm-wristed flourishes have stirred the pot once more, even after Pope had seemingly secured his India starting berth with 171.
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With Brendon McCullum wowed in Birmingham, as he was on last year’s Test tour of New Zealand when he said Pope versus Bethell was something they would have to work out, the No.3 for next month’s Headingley opener is not set in stone.
Bethell, as the disruptor, is not worried. He remains the chaser rather than the chased, pre-occupied by the day-to-day establishing of himself in the white-ball sides to focus squarely on what Test cricket might hold for him this year. Nevertheless, this season’s highest-profile challenge is next month’s five-Test series against India, which leads into the winter’s Ashes. As for any awkwardness that his precocity may have caused his Test captain and vice last week, the IPL gave him the perfect alibi.
“I was pretty far away to be honest,” he said. “I tried to stay pretty clear of social media anyway, so me not even being in England, I didn’t really hear a lot of it until I think one of my friends messaged me and said the whole thing was going on. But I haven’t really followed it.
“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.”
