Jacob Bethell, the 21-year-old, has admitted that his participation in the Indian Premier League (IPL) with the reigning champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) was a big factor leading to his increased confidence and ability to perform in full-packed stadiums. The all-rounder made his Ashes debut scoring a somewhat lucky 40 runs in England’s difficult chase of 175 before a crowd of 92,045 at the famous Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), which resulted in a four-wicket win in the fourth test, thus marking the victory of England’s first Test win in Australia in fifteen years.

Jacob Bethell Credits RCB Experience For MCG Masterclass

Even though the all-rounder got the limited chances he directly linked his IPL 2025 experience for his composure during the match.

“I for sure had way more confidence coming into this game after playing in front of what I am not sure, 50,000, which felt like 100,000 at the Chinnaswamy. In the IPL, I played only two games, however, every game still taught me what I am capable of extracting from myself when the atmosphere is like that,”said Bethell.

The RCB player had taken the place of an ailing Phil Salt and opened for batting with the great Virat Kohli. Initially the left-hand batsman scored 12 runs in six balls against Delhi Capitals and then made 55 off 33 balls (eight fours, two sixes, SR 166.66) against Chennai Super Kings, who made him the youngest overseas player to score fifty in IPL history.

Jacob Bethell Late Ashes 2025 Edition

Jacob Bethell was not playing during the first three Tests of the Ashes and was sitting on the bench whilst Ollie Pope was the one selected for the batting order. Nevertheless, Pope could not handle the pressure at No. 3, as he only managed to get a meager average of 20 .23 without even a single half-century, notwithstanding the fact that he had made some big scores in the warm-up matches. This eventually rendered the team management forced to make some tough decisions.

Bethell, who had almost no Test experience prior to the Ashes 2025, was looking forward to a tough challenge. The only option was to bat at No.3 against one of the world’s strongest bowling attacks on the kind of pitches that were ideal for seam bowlers.

In England’s second innings, Jacob Bethell batted at No.4 after Brydon Carse was promoted for pinch-hitting, which did not work as May secured 110 runs with eight wickets in hand. With his defensive technique together with smart aggression, the young man scored 40 runs, which consisted of five four hits, and then milked the game out of Australia, in spite of late wickets.