Jacob Bethell crafted a terrific 55.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) batter Jacob Bethell played a terrific knock in England’s opening T20 World Cup 2026 fixture against Nepal. Batting at No.3, he made full use of the conditions and showed why he has been playing ahead of Ben Duckett.
Bethell scored 55 runs in 35 balls, including four boundaries and as many sixes, at a strike rate of 157.14. 72.72% of his runs came via fours and sixes, and he scored 29.89% of the team’s runs alone.
A notable feature of his batting was his ability to put Nepal spinners under pressure, accumulating 49 runs at a strike rate of 175 and a balls-per-boundary ratio of 3.50 in this game. While he eventually got out against off-spin, Bethell was indeed brutal and hardly let them settle on what was a nice batting deck in Mumbai.
At one stage, England were 57/3, with Nepal spinners removing two batters and looking set to stifle the opponent, but Jacob Bethell ensured England were comfortable against everyone, barring Sandeep Lamichhane. He was the aggressor during the partnership with Harry Brook and helped his team get a big first-innings total.
Jacob Bethell will likely be a backup option at RCB in IPL 2026, with Phil Salt set to open with Virat Kohli and take the overseas spot. Other overseas players in the playing XI will likely be Tim David, Romario Shepherd, and Josh Hazlewood, so Bethell’s chances will be limited, and he will only play if Salt is unavailable for some reason.
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However, Bethell will definitely press his case, especially since he plays spin better than Phil Salt and can be more flexible with his batting position, capable of batting anywhere in the top four. If he plays, RCB can open with Kohli and give Venkatesh Iyer his best spot at the top, while Bethell himself will take the No.3 slot to handle spin.
This will mean RCB have pace hitters, who are useful against spin, as openers, followed by a spin-hitter, who is solid against pace, in the top order. Salt has recently developed a pattern against spinners, where his fluency hasn’t been the same: he has a strike rate of 130.81 and a balls-per-boundary ratio of 7.26 against spinners since the end of IPL 2025.
Maybe he won’t have too many issues on flat IPL decks, but teams will be smart enough to exploit his issues, especially against wrist spin. Meanwhile, Bethell will not only bring a superior spin game but also give an LHB variety; RCB won’t have any other left-handers apart from Iyer in the top six, and Krunal Pandya has his limitations against spin, so he can’t be used as a floater consistently.
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