IPL 2025: England sensation can’t wait to play under Virat Kohli at RCB

England's young cricketer Jacob Bethell is thrilled to share the dressing room with the legendary India batter Virat Kohli ahead of the upcoming season of Indian Premier League. Bethell will play for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in IPL 2025.

The youngster was signed by the franchise for INR 2.60 crore which was more than double of his base price of INR 1.25 crore. It will be Bethell's first IPL season and he is excited to share the dressing room with one of the modern-day greats Virat Kohli.

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Jacob Bethell thrilled to share a dressing room with Virat Kohli

After the first ODI between India and England at Nagpur, Jacob Bethell was asked about playing in his first IPL season in a few months. The left-hander is already feeling the love for the franchise as he is greeted with chants of RCB, RCB wherever he is going.

Bethell is eagerly looking forward to sharing the dressing room with Virat Kohli, who has been a talismanic player for the franchise over the past few years. However, he wants to treat the IPL games as the same and not take any undue pressure on himself.

"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. To play along with the likes of players like that would be really cool," Bethell was quoted as saying by The Daily Mail.

"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," he added.

Jacob Bethell's impressive start to international career

Jacob Bethell is already seen as the future of English cricket from a very young age. The 21-year-old left-hander has shades of Ben Stokes in his batting and is a useful left-arm spinner as well.

Bethell has the ability to bat at any spot in the batting order. While he is batting in the lower order in the ongoing series against India, he has also been used as the No. 3 batter in Test cricket. He has been impressive at that spot with his ability to counter-attack.

Bethell has played 3 Tests, 9 ODIs, and 10 T20Is so far. He already averages more than 50 in Test cricket and has a strike rate close to 150 in T20Is. He is also in England's squad for the Champions Trophy and can play a key role for his team in the tournament.

Virat Kohli to lead RCB in IPL 2025?

Virat Kohli is currently the highest run-getter of IPL with over 8000 runs in 252 matches at an average of 38.66 and a strike rate of 131.97. He is one of the greats of IPL but hasn't been able to lift the trophy so far.

Kohli is also the frontrunner to become RCB's captain for the upcoming IPL season. The team didn't retain Faf du Plessis in the auction which leaves them with limited captaincy options other than Kohli himself.