England youngster Jacob Bethel Talking about the unforgettable experience of opening batting Virat Kohli He had attended matches at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium during his time with Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and he described the atmosphere as unlike anything he had experienced before.Besser, who joined RCB after being signed in the IPL 2025 mega auction, shared the dressing room with Kohli during the team’s back-to-back title-winning seasons in 2025 and 2026. Although the young all-rounder has endured a mixed season with the bat, he says the opportunity to walk out on the field with one of the modern football superstars remains a career highlight.
‘I remember being nervous’
Besser admitted on YouTube’s Super Over podcast that he was nervous ahead of his first home appearance in Bengaluru.“It was crazy. I remember being really nervous beforehand. It was just my first game in front of the home fans. I was nervous to say the least. But as soon as I got on the court, I was excited. I drank at quite a few games. Watching the atmosphere, I wanted a piece of the action,” Jacob Bethel said. “We went out to bat. All I could hear was my own thoughts… The place was bouncing, there was no gap in it. You felt like they were on top of you. Fortunately, we managed to get a couple of runs in; I scored a couple of balls, he scored a couple of balls. I remember I hit the second ball for four and I had never heard such a loud noise,” he added.
‘Virat is very cold off the field’
Bethel also shed light on Kohli’s personality away from the limelight, saying the former RCB skipper is much more relaxed than his fiery image on the field.“Away from cricket and off the field, he’s actually a very calm guy. It’s a pleasure to talk to him, it’s a pleasure to spend time with him. But that’s the ability to transform into that competitive nature in and around cricket or training,” Bethell revealed. Bethell scored 163 runs in 9 games at a strike rate of 140.52 in the 2026 IPL season, but the England all-rounder had previously said in a video posted on RCB’s official account that Kohli, Rajat Patidar and Dinesh Karthik helped him improve his game, especially in the side of spin, during his time with the Bengaluru-based franchise.
