England batter Jacob Bethell called his unbeaten 76 against India in the second Twenty20 International one of his best innings ever. He said it was particularly fulfilling because it was for a winning cause.
In all three formats, the 22-year-old has scored a century. He scored his lone T20I century against India in the T20 World Cup quarterfinal, which England lost by 7 runs.
Bethell led England to a four-wicket victory on Saturday despite chasing 191 with a calm yet powerful unbeaten 76, giving the home team a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.
“I’d actually put it up close to the top. There’s nothing sweeter as a batter than walking off with a win, not out, walking in, shaking the boys’ hands,” PTI quoted Bethell as saying when asked where the innings ranked among his favourites for England.
“I’ve scored a few hundreds, but only one of them was in a winning cause. We lost in Australia, we lost in India, so after those games you always think, ‘What more could I have done?’”
“Whereas today, I’m all smiles. We’ve gone one-nil up in the series. There’s a few scars against India, so it’s nice to get one up on them. It’s also given me a lot of confidence going into the last three games.”
After 16 overs, Bethell was on 42 off 36 balls when he decisively changed the outcome for England.
He smacked three sixes and a four in Ravi Bishnoi’s 17th over, which also included two no-balls, gathering 29 runs before hitting an amazing reverse-ramp six off Harshit Rana. In the last ten balls he faced, he hammered 34 runs.
“In these kinds of chases, you’re not going hard the whole time. It’s about finding a couple of big overs and then the game swings,” Bethell said.
“If I’m honest, I probably would have targeted the other end more because my leg side was towards the shorter boundary with the wind. But when you get a couple of free-hits and the bowler is under pressure, you have to make the most of it.”
After ducks for both openers, England was down to 1/2 after just five deliveries when Bethell walked in at No. 4.
“I was pretty calm. When Brooky (Harry Brook) went out there, I said, ‘Go well, Harry,’ and then I was out there a couple of balls later.
“Jos (Buttler) was unlucky, but it’s a strange feeling walking in at two down for not many. Brooky handled that situation unbelievably.”
Following the early collapse, the innings was revived by England captain Harry Brook’s counter-attacking 39 off just 15 balls, which included four fours and three sixes.
