{"id":714313,"date":"2026-06-04T07:43:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T07:43:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/714313\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T07:43:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T07:43:17","slug":"virat-kohlis-behind-the-scenes-role-in-rcbs-title-charge-leaves-teammate-stunned-didnt-expect-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/714313\/","title":{"rendered":"Virat Kohli’s behind-the-scenes role in RCB’s title charge leaves teammate stunned: ‘Didn’t expect it’"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the IPL\u2019s great wonders has always been how it provides the opportunities for players across different generations and different countries to cross paths, when they might never have had the chance otherwise. For England\u2019s Jordan Cox<\/a>, this was just the year, as he played a dressing room role as champions RCB\u2019s<\/a> regular twelfth man throughout a victorious season.<\/p>\n

\"ViratVirat Kohli warms up alongside Jordan Cox. (PTI)<\/p>\n

Although he didn\u2019t play a full game, he spent plenty of time as a substitute on the field, and countless hours training alongside the likes of Virat Kohli<\/a>. While certain sects say he wasted his time during the early parts of the County Championship by holding bench for INR 75 lakh in India, Cox argued he wouldn\u2019t swap it for the world.<\/p>\n

“If you haven’t been around this competition, you don’t know what it’s like,” Cox said to ESPNcricinfo following the IPL. “It’s life-changing\u2026 Why would you not go over and learn from the best?”<\/p>\n

This was a refrain also held by Cox\u2019s other England and RCB teammate, Jacob Bethell, who ultimately did get a few chances for RCB. Already an England international in the white ball formats who was due a Test cap before a pair of unfortunate injuries, Cox\u2019s time spent with someone like Kohli would certainly be valuable \u2013 and for him, it was premium access to a player ready to talk cricket at all hours of the day.<\/p>\n

“He will give you every single bit of information he has in his brain to try and help you, which for me was something that I didn’t expect\u2026\u201d said Cox regarding his friendship with Kohli. \u201cFor someone like that who’s achieved everything you’d want to achieve in the game, he gives you everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spin game received a boost thanks to playing in India<\/p>\n

Already with a pair of very successful seasons for Essex, for whom he averages over 60, Cox saw more value in spending time in the subcontinent to develop his game and add more dimensions to it.<\/p>\n

“I’ve been lucky enough to bat with VK a few times in the nets, which has been pretty awesome. Even batting with Salty, someone that’s been the No. 1-ranked T20 batter in the world, to learn different types of shots and types of opportunities to take down bowling: I feel like my game [against] spin has gone to another level now,\u201d stated Cox, referencing his England teammate Phil Salt.<\/p>\n

Test cricket does remain the pinnacle, but playing in the IPL was a \u2018dream\u2019, and an opportunity to share a dressing room with some of the best players in the world across disciplines \u2013 something the 25-year-old Englishman couldn\u2019t turn down.<\/p>\n

“The IPL’s the marquee competition in the world. Test cricket’s the biggest thing, and I really want to give it a good crack. But the things I’ve learned here and the calibre of players that are here is something that, at that moment in time, I just couldn’t turn down\u2026 It was a dream come true, really, just to be in an IPL team,\u201d concluded Cox, who will soon join the England Lions for some tour games.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of the IPL\u2019s great wonders has always been how it provides the opportunities for players across different…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":714314,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,1208,13848,193012,159411,85,2131],"class_list":["post-714313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-england","tag-ipl","tag-jordan-cox","tag-rcb","tag-sports","tag-virat-kohli"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=714313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/714314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=714313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=714313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=714313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}