IND vs ENG, 1st ODI - 3 Positives England Can Take From Jacob Bethell's Effort

Jacob Bethell {Source: AP Photos]

India are currently taking on England in the first ODI of the three match series at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Jamtha Nagpur. The home team has established their dominance in the game with a good bowling effort and restricting England to 248 runs.

Notably, England batted first after winning the toss. They had a great start to their innings with Ben Duckett and Phil Salt giving them a blazing start. However, India made a good comeback into the match as they picked up a few quick wickets and put the pressure back on the visitors.

Jos Buttler batted well and scored a half-century. However, he failed to continue past that and the onus fell on the young Jacob Bethell to take the team to a fighting total. Bethell played a calm and composed knock and scored 51 runs off 64 deliveries taking England to a score with which they can fight against the home team.

Here is a deeper analysis of the Innings from Bethell and a few positives England can take from it keeping in mind the approaching Champions Trophy. 

3. Handling The Spinners

The Indian spinners dominated the proceedings in the middle phase. They strangled the English batters and that resulted in the balance of the game tilting in the home team's favour. Bethell also faced a bit of problem against the spinners, but he decided to show resilience instead of throwing his wicket away.

Table - Jacob Bethell's performance against different type of bowlers

As the Champions Trophy 2025 will be played in Pakistan, this resilience of Bethell could be beneficial for England in the tournament. Bethell could be the anchor for the team around which the batting revolves especially in the big games and in crunch situations.

2. Ability To Handle Pressure

Bethell walked into bat when England's score was 111/4 in the 19th over. He struck a partnership with Jos Buttler that kept the English innings stable. But even after the departure of Buttler, Bethell batted with the lower order batters and guided the team towards a respectable total. 

The knock by Bethell was an example of his ability to handle pressure. His temperament and composure was commendable and those are the things his team would need from him during the grand event.

1. A Finisher In Progress

The qualities that Bethell showed during the innings are ideal for a finisher. During the Champions Trophy 2025, Bethell could become that important lever in the English mechanism that gives them the added advantage in some of the games. The young left handed batter has the composure, calmness and temperament to be the perfect finisher. Also, a look at his recent BBL peformances will show that he can easily adapt his game to situation and bat accordingly.

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