- Jacob Bethell has made a strong start to his England career across all formats
- He is set to play at the IPL this year after signing for Royal Challengers Bangalore
- He will play alongside Virat Kohli and met the Indian legend on Thursday
Jacob Bethell says he’s already had a taste of the adulation that comes with playing for Indian cricket’s equivalent of Manchester United.
Bethell, 21, is in India for the first time and is due to spend plenty of time here this year, following England’s current white-ball tour by joining up with Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Although they are yet to win the Indian Premier League title, they are the franchise with the biggest fan base and have superstar Virat Kohli in their ranks.
‘I’m looking forward to it. RCB is a great franchise and I’ve felt the love over here. Every ground I’ve been to, as soon as I walk on to the pitch they start chanting: RCB, RCB. There’s definitely a lot of support,’ said Bethell.
The Warwickshire all-rounder met Kohli for the first time after hitting 51 and one for 18 in England’s defeat in the opening match of the one-day series in Nagpur on Thursday.
‘To play along with the likes of players like that would be really cool,’ he added.
‘But as soon as you play against someone you realise you’re playing the same game and they can make the same mistakes you can. It’s just that those guys obviously got a lot better at not making the mistakes.’
Bethell’s second half-century in eight one-day international innings came when England were in trouble at 111 for four, highlighting both a fine temperament and a natural ability to move through the batting gears.
Having moved to eight off 27 balls, a pulled six off Hardik Pandya began a spree of 43 off 36 that threatened to push the tourists beyond the 250-run mark before he succumbed to the wily Ravindra Jadeja.
Bethell, no longer sporting a peroxide surfer hairdo after he was given the buzz cut treatment on this tour by team-mate Saqib Mahmood, is one of England’s obvious successes in what has been a mixed winter of two series wins and three losses across formats to date.
The stylish left-hander averages more with the bat for England in Test, 50-over and Twenty20 cricket than he does at domestic level.
But he is equally keen to show his finger spin can be a regular wicket-taking weapon too after coming on ahead of Liam Livingstone and Joe Root in the first of the three ODIs, dismissing the set Shreyas Iyer with a classical slow left-arm delivery.
‘I see myself as a genuine all-rounder. In international cricket so far I haven’t bowled a lot of overs in T20. I’ve bowled a few in 50-over cricket and whenever I get the chance to bowl and state my claim, and put us in a good position, I will. It’s a massive part of my package,’ he said.
