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The story about Jacob Bethell and his time with RCB in the IPL has developed into a new chapter. The latest update about Bethell emerged after Alastair Cook made his comments which increased public interest in Bethell's present situation.

The latest Bethell news creates additional excitement for RCB as they pursue their second consecutive IPL championship during this season. The existing divided opinions about Bethell have created increased attention for him and for the entire IPL 2026 tournament.

Alastair Cook, the former England captain, recommended that Jacob Bethell should leave IPL 2026 and return to his home country. He believed Bethell should spend his time playing County matches for Warwickshire instead of sitting on the RCB bench during games.

Jacob Bethell made his choice to stay in the IPL because he wanted to defend his decision. Cook spoke again on the Stick to Cricket Podcast after facing online criticism about his previous comments. 

Alastair Cook commented: “I just gave my opinion and I can justify it by saying that at the time he wasn’t playing. Last year as well, he went to the IPL and didn’t play either, so he has already had that benefit once or twice. In my opinion, he could have come back and actually played some cricket.”

Alastair Cook maintains his previous judgment because he now demonstrates through his current assessment that players need to spend time in matches. Cook believes that regular cricket would have helped Jacob Bethell more than the opportunities he received because Phil Salt got injured. 

Cook made his first comments about Jacob Bethell when the player spent most of his time watching from the bench instead of playing in the game. Bethell should have returned to England from the IPL because his County cricket matches would have given him better practice opportunities.

Bethell, though, saw things differently. The youngster explained that his RCB program membership together with training time spent with Virat Kohli plus his continuous presence in that setting will help him develop his abilities throughout time.

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Alastair Cook made another statement which he claimed that all players wanted to join the IPL because they needed to play in actual games because sitting on the bench would not help their development.

Cook Added: “Well, I get the other argument of learning from it, but there has got to be a stage where you have to play, like you cannot just learn from it. And I know that the IPL is a great tournament but it is also then no one is publicly ever going to say that the IPL is not the place to be because everyone knows it lines everyone’s pockets.”

Alastair Cook said that Jacob Bethell and other players will automatically praise the IPL which he considers a fantastic tournament but he explained that nobody will express their negative opinions about it because the league provides players with financial success.