- May 31, 2025
Consider weeks on the bench, switching hotel beds that break your back, and then finally the moment arrives where you are walking out to open the batting and the guy walking next to you is Virat Kohli. This is exactly what happened to young England talent Jacob Bethell on his brief but unforgettable IPL experience with Royal Challengers Bengaluru. And as he says, it was electrifying.
At the very young age of 21, Bethell has swapped Barbados for Birmingham, warmed the RCB bench, taken notes from Kohli, and now has delivered an amazing all-round performance in an England shirt. His 82 off 53 balls against West Indies was not just a demonstration of raw power, it was a statement. A coming-of-age performance, in part, powered by the teachings he took from being in the same crease – and in the same dressing room – as one of the greatest modern icons of cricket.
Aura, Advice, and the Kohli Effect
Even if Bethell doesn’t know every Gen-Z phrase nor hasn’t played cricket his whole life, there are also just some things that you know when someone has that aura. Kohli is the motivation for RCB, and the inspiration he creates is not just inspirational; it can change people. A young batter like Bethell could hardly have hoped to share a 97-run stand with the Indian legend Kohli, but it was more than mere runs on the board. Bethell absorbed Kohli’s intensity, confidence, and hunger every time he walked across the line.
Some of these moments were fleeting; sometimes just casual one-liners. However, the ‘Kohli effect’ lived on. Kohli’s approach to preparation and the mental switch he flips before walking onto the field, the way Kohli remained calm the majority of the time away from cricket, then transformed into another beast once the game started—not only influenced Bethell, but left a fairly sizeable mark. There was no overnight transformation—just a slow drip of Kohli’s aura, subtly sharpening Bethell without him noticing until much later.
The IPL is Not Just a League, But a Learning Lab
Jacob Bethell had little opportunity at RCB – two games – but he made those opportunities count. He had a maiden IPL fifty against the Chennai Super Kings and, arguably even more importantly, his time with Kohli was not just a few ticks on a CV. The IPL’s competitive environment, from rigorous training routines to consistently facing world-class spin, proved instrumental in refining his technique and expanding his batting depth.
The England 50-over team has had problems with spin for a long time, but Bethell did show real development against Gudakesh Motie in the last ODI. His ability to play touch and power at different times and across different conditions and different styles of bowling is all part of a larger development. The IPL may pay you to sit on the bench, and if you are half smart, you can learn a lot from it.
Is Bethell Disrupting England’s Test Order Too
Let’s be honest, Bethell isn’t losing any sleep about Test cricket, yet. But suddenly his name is being mentioned amid the conversation about England’s red-ball game. With Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum keeping an eye on things and Ollie Pope under pressure after Bethell’s pyrotechnics in the ODI, the young left-handed player could be heading towards something bigger.
His mindset is quite simple he’s still a hunter, not hunted, and while it’s no easy task to predict what the future holds, when a 21-year-old player starts competing at a similar energy level and learns like Kohli, one can easily see that, if anything, Bethell is showcasing that a mentality and willingness to adapt can create chances faster than a story in the newspaper.
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