Cricket news: England’s Jacob Bethell responds to Sir Alastair Cook’s criticism of his IPL participation
Former England captain Sir Alastair Cook recently commented on Jacob Bethell’s lack of playing time for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the Indian Premier League, writes Sports News Blitz’s Darshan Kaur Gill.
Cook criticised the all-rounder for staying at RCB on The Overlap’s Stick to Cricket podcast, saying: “He’s sitting on his a**e in the IPL not doing anything, ideally he could come back and open for Warwickshire to help England.”
Bethell achieved a century in England’s final Test against Australia in Sydney, and achieved 105 runs in the T20 World Cup semi-final against India earlier this year, cementing his status as a rising star in cricket.
The 22-year-old hasn’t played any of the first six games of the season - but despite that, he is currently earning around £250,000 from his IPL deal, something he defended to Sky.
Bethell’s position on the matter
“I firmly believe this is the thing for me to be doing now,” Bethell told on the Sky Cricket podcast.
“I feel better now than I was a month ago after the World Cup, just from getting time around the guys over here and the pure standard of cricket in India and the IPL.
“Actually, if you look at where I was last year after coming back from the IPL, I was flying, going into that West Indies series and I feel in a similar position now.”
It’s evident from the way Bethell spoke on the Sky Cricket podcast that he disagrees with the former England captain’s thoughts on his time in the IPL.
He expressed his feelings on other’s opinions of him, saying: “Every nets session, you’ve got hundreds of eyes on you, be it your coaches or the other players who are also looking at you, going, ‘Is this guy good? Is he not?’
“You’ve got the people in the crowd with their phones on. You get exposed to a lot of stuff.”
READ MORE: IPL 2026: Will this be the year that the Punjab Kings finally lift the IPL trophy?
Dissecting Cook’s criticism
Bethell made 154 runs from his position as the third batter at the end of the Ashes in January, meaning that he should be in the starting XI for the first Test of the summer against New Zealand, a position that he would like to keep.
It was prior to this that Cook made comments about Bethell on The Overlap’s Stick to Cricket podcast, stating that he could be a batting opener for England, hopefully addressing England’s issues in Test matches, but also saying “it’s not ideal” and that Bethell shouldn’t really be it since he isn't opening.
Bethell also addressed this worry that his cricket skill will be lacking due to his lack of playing time in IPL matches, telling Sky Sports: “It’s been scheduled now where we’ve had practice matches when we’re not playing.
“I know it’s not going to be the same as an actual competitive game, but we’re getting time out in the middle from that because it feels like the whole squad’s pulling together to try.”
Following his performance in Sydney, Cook claimed Bethell is “the future of England cricket”, perhaps the reason as to why his criticisms have become so widely spoken about.
