England young batter Jacob Bethell credited Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for coping with the pressure of making his Ashes debut at the MCG.
The southpaw struck a composed 40 as England chased down 175 to win the fourth Ashes Test, snapping an 18-match winless run on Australian soil.
"I was pretty nervous. Not so much with the people, just the occasion, I guess. But I've played over in India where it feels like there's 160,000 people watching. This atmosphere was incredible and it was nice to get a win and contribute," he was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.
"The IPL, I only played two games but every game and every occasion... Definitely, just knowing what I'm able to get out of myself when the situation is like that and when the atmosphere is like that.
"I definitely had a lot more confidence coming into this game after playing in front of, I don't know, 50,000 - which felt like 100,000 - at the Chinnaswamy."
Bethell's IPL outings
Bethell represented Royal Challengers Bengaluru in just two matches of the last edition of the cash-rich league, where he scored 55 off 33 against Chennai Super Kings in the second match at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Jacob Bethell's IPL future
Jacob Bethell was retained by the Bengaluru-based franchise to he will be seen representing the defending champions in the upcoming edition of the tournament.
IPL 2026 schedule
Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 is scheduled to start from March 26, and the final will take place on May 31. Defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru will play the opener clash as per the tournament's rules, but the venue is yet to be decided since M. Chinnaswamy Stadium has been declared not safe to host public gatherings and events.
RCB squad for IPL 2026
Rajat Patidar (c), Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Phil Salt, Jitesh Sharma, Krunal Pandya, Swapnil Singh, Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Jacob Bethell, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Nuwan Thushara, Rasikh Salam, Abhinandan Singh, and Suyash Sharma, Venkatesh Iyer, Mangesh Yadav, Jacob Duffy, Satwik Deswal, Jordan Cox, Vihaan Malhotra, Kanishk Chouhan, Vicky Ostwal