Jacob Bethell is a guy with very high ceiling – Andy Flower

One of the surprise picks for RCB in this year’s Mega Auction was English all-rounder, Jacob Bethell. Even though he is just starting to take flight in the bigger leagues, yet, his impressive past was sublime enough for the Royal Challengers to bring him aboard for the latest edition of the tournament.

Talking in the latest video released by RCB on their YouTube, Andy Flower, the head coach of the team said, “Jacob Bethell is a guy with very high ceiling. I think when he plays, our fans will love watching him play. Left hander, beautiful striker of the ball, timer of the ball, he hits well over extra cover, he slog-sweeps the spinners, he ramps the quick bowlers and not only will he be important for us as a batsman this year but there’s a potential for him to grow and then for us to get reward in the coming years as well.”

Apart from Bethell, he also underlined that the longevity of the tournament might lead to availability issues amongst the players. Flower said, “We understand that for the IPL which is quite the longest franchise tournament in the world, played over ten weeks, that availability could be an issue. But I think the BCCI have been very firm in the rules that they have applied and overseas players know that they cannot pull out on a whim. So I think that’s good decisiveness from the BCCI. I also think that South African players are always fully available during the IPL and me and Mo Bobat, we have a very good relation with Rob Key at the ECB. We work well with them and I think we can keep nice open lines of communication for any of our English players.”

This year’s IPL has been reported to start from March 14th while it will continue until May 25th. With more than two months of power-packed action ready to take centerstage, it is going to be one full-blown cricketing bonanza for all the 10 teams in action.