England's rising star Jacob Bethell has defended his decision to remain with Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) for the IPL 2026 season, countering criticism from former captain Sir Alastair Cook.

Cook argued that Bethell was "sitting on his a***" and wasting crucial development time on the bench while he could be opening for Warwickshire in the County Championship.

In response, Bethell stated there is no "right or wrong way" to develop, emphasizing that being exposed to the high standards and pressure of the IPL is inherently beneficial.

Bethell was part of the RCB squad that won its maiden IPL title last year. While the southpaw played a couple of games in 2025, he is still awaiting his first opportunity this season. He faces stiff competition for the four overseas spots from Phil Salt, Tim David, Romario Shepherd, and Josh Hazlewood.

Despite warming the bench, the 22-year-old emphasized that being exposed to the high standards and pressure of the IPL is inherently beneficial. He responded to Cook’s comment by saying there is no "right or wrong way" to develop.

"I don't think there's a right or wrong way to do it. I think we've seen last year, for me personally, that by not playing cricket for a little while, I came into the end of that India series a bit undercooked, which was a learning for me to take on board," Bethell said while speaking on Sky Sports Cricket Podcast.

"But actually, if you look at where I was last year after coming back from the IPL, I was flying, going into that West Indies series and I feel in a similar position now. I feel better now than I was a month ago after the World Cup, through just getting time around the guys over here and the pure standard of cricket in India and the IPL.

"It's something that not many people will understand how cool it is until actually being around a team or the tournament itself when you're here. It just has a completely different feel. It feels like everyone almost ups their game subconsciously without even really knowing because of the calibre of the tournament. I feel like that even happens when you're not on the starting XI or even starting XII as it might be now with the impact player,” he explained.

Bethell minced no words as he claimed that even practicing in IPL brings more pressure due to massive eyeballs than real game time in county cricket.

"You've got hundreds of eyes on you, albeit you either have your coaches or the other players who are also looking at you going, 'is this guy good? Is he not?' You got the people in the crowd with the phones on.

"I think you get exposed to a lot of stuff. You might not get the amount of time in the middle as [you do] in County Championship playing four rounds of that. But I think in terms of the ability to actually just continue doing what you want to do when there are loads of eyes on you, is really important for me personally going forward.

"Also, it's been scheduled in now where we've had practice matches when we're not playing. I know that's not going to be the same as an actual competitive game, but we're getting time out in the middle from that because it feels like the whole squad's pulling together to try.

"They know it's going to be a team effort, a squad effort to win the trophy again. And Coxsy (England international Jordan Cox) as well is not being left just to ponder about what's happening on the sideline.

"But in short, I think there's no right way. I firmly believe that this is the thing for me to be doing right now," he remarked.

Having won four of their six matches so far, RCB are currently holding fourth spot in the IPL 2026 points table. A few more wins could allow the defending champions to experiment with their lineup, opening the door for Bethell.