England’s legendary former captain Geoffrey Boycott believes Jacob Bethell would be under ‘extra pressure’ in the upcoming Test series against New Zealand because he chose to stay at the IPL with Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) instead of joining the national squad for the series preparation.
Bethell’s participation with the eventual IPL 2026 champions was a big talking point in England. He warmed the bench for the first half of the season, prompting Alastair Cook to suggest he should use his time better by joining the England squad instead. Kevin Pietersen rejected that on social media, saying that the young opener would ‘learn more’ from the best league in the world.
Now, Boycott said, while Pietersen was right, Bethell would need to work
harder to get over his T20 instincts.
‘… For weeks on end, in the nets and in matches, he has spent his time whacking boundaries off every ball,” Boycott wrote in his column for The Telegraph. “In his head, he will have been trying outrageous strokes to good balls, and that can easily become ingrained. Changing from a format that demands boundaries like a baseball batter trying to hit a home run every time to a Test series against New Zealand without any warm-up matches will be challenging,” he said.
Boycott added that, unlike the old times when IPL was significantly more lucrative than the IPL, the English audience will expect more from its stars, who are on much-improved contracts.
“In the early days of the IPL, when Kevin was playing for England, I understood our cricketers wanting to play there because the money was mind-blowing,” Boycott said. “Now our England players are on huge contracts with the top guys getting close to £1m a year, so supporters are entitled to expect top-quality performances from our players. So far as a team they have not delivered against the top two of India and Australia. There is extra pressure on Jacob to prove he made the correct decision for him and England,” he added.
