After struggling to get moving into the recently-concluded five-match T20I series, young England all-rounder Jacob Bethell gave a very good account of himself within the ODI-opener against India in Nagpur. The 21-year-old hit a half-century on Thursday, and likewise grabbed the prized scalp of Shreyas Iyer. Bethell can be heading to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy later this month, before returning to India in March to get his first taste of the Indian Premier League. For the unversed, Bethell was picked up by Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) for Rs 2.2 crore on the IPL 2025 mega auction.
Speaking after the primary ODI, Bethell said he looks forward to joining the franchise, and revealed all of the love he has been receiving from RCB fans ever since his signing.
“RCB is an awesome franchise, and I’ve felt the love over here. Every ground I have been to, as soon as I walk onto the pitch, they begin chanting: RCB, RCB. There’s definitely plenty of support,” Bethell told Every day Mail.
After meeting Kohli for the primary time recently, Bethell opened up on the chance to play alongside the previous RCB captain. “To play together with the likes of players like that will be really cool,” he added.
Bethell considers himself as a correct all-rounder, and will turn out to be useful for each England and RCB over the subsequent three months or so.
“As soon as you play against someone, you realise you are playing the identical game and so they could make the identical mistakes you may. It’s just that those guys obviously got rather a lot higher at not making the mistakes,” Bethell explained.
“I see myself as a real all-rounder. Each time I get the prospect to bowl and state my claim, and put us in a very good position, I’ll. It’s a large a part of my package.”
England captain Jos Buttler was filled with praise for Bethell, who has already represented England in all three formats.
“I used to be watching him bat and saying ‘I could not remember the best way to bat at 21’, it took me till I used to be about 28, I feel! I’m really pleased for him. He didn’t find it easy at first but he was very mature, measured, soaked up some pressure and got here through it. It was a very mature innings from him. He’ll learn rather a lot from this, it’s a very good experience,” Buttler said.
Meanwhile, England lost the first ODI by 4 wickets. The second game can be played on Sunday.
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