Playing for RCB, Will Jacks impressed one and all with his exploits in the IPL 2024.
Although Will Jacks had to leave the RCB camp ahead of the playoffs for national duty, he gained a lot during his time with the franchise.
In particular, the one-field “coaching” from seasoned campaigner Virat Kohli was fruitful for him and Jacks hopes to make good use of it in the upcoming T20 World Cup for England.
"The big thing with the IPL is that every game is such an occasion, the crowd, the atmosphere," Jacks told reporters, just over a week from England's World Cup opener against Scotland in Barbados.
"Every game you feel like you've got to step up and that's similar to international cricket."
Sharing the experience of batting with Kohli, the 25-year-old added: "He's a very good role model. The way he approaches all the training and every aspect of the game off the field, his intensity, everything he does is a 100 percent attention.
"He's done it for such a long time and I can appreciate that as a young guy who often doesn't want to do the hard yards, but you see him doing it and want to copy that."
"When we were batting together, he was coaching me through there. I learned some valuable things about chasing in that innings and pacing the game, which was really helpful. I was really proud of the way I stayed in the partnership, didn't throw it away," he further remarked.
Will Jacks, who has represented England in two Tests, seven ODIs and 12 T20Is so far, is now looking forward to the T20 World Cup in the West Indies and USA.
"Playing in a World Cup is something I've dreamed of since I was a little kid. I'm really excited to do it," he said. "It's getting closer now and we're building in the right direction."
Still in his early days, Jacks has 218 runs to his name at an average of 18.16 from 12 T20Is. While the numbers are not impressive by any means, his cause has not been helped by switching between opening the innings and batting at three.
"I've probably opened half my games and batted number three in the other half," he said. "It's no lie that I'm new to batting at three, I'm learning on the job."
He added: "I've been getting starts every game and it's about how do I change those into match-winning scores. That's more of a mindset thing. It doesn't matter what I'm averaging: if the team's winning, then it's good."
(With AFP Inputs)