*** England’s Jacks thankful for Kohli influence ahead of T20 World Cup | THE DAILY TRIBUNE | KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN

England’s Jacks thankful for Kohli influence ahead of T20 World Cup

AFP | London

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Will Jacks hopes to put the on-field “coaching” he received from Virat Kohli to good use when England bid to retain their T20 World Cup title next month. Jacks goes into the third game of England’s warm-up series against Pakistan having helped propel the hosts to a 23-run win at Edgbaston on Saturday.

The Surrey all-rounder struck a quickfire 37 in what proved to be a decisive stand with captain Jos Buttler as England went 1-0 up in the rain-hit four-match series ahead of Tuesday’s game at Cardiff’s Sophia Gardens.

It was another example of Jacks’ power hitting after he recently struck an unbeaten century off just 41 balls -- including 28 runs from one Rashid Khan over -- as Royal Challengers Bengaluru chased down 200 to beat Gujarat Titans in a high-pressure situation, with India star batsman Kohli looking on from the other end.

“The big thing with the IPL is that every game is such an occasion, the crowd, the atmosphere,” Jacks told reporters yesterday, 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.” As for 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.” Jacks added: “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.”