Connection with Kohli clicked right from day one in RCB camp: Phil Salt

New Delhi, Dec 8 (IANS) England opener Phil Salt said his partnership with Virat Kohli clicked from the time they met in the Royal Challengers Bengaluru camp for IPL 2025, adding that he was pleased with its development, including the role clarity on who would take charge of scoring.

Salt’s partnership alongside Kohli gave RCB several good starts in the powerplay, which was crucial in them winning IPL 2025. It always important to have a strong relationship with whoever youre opening with. You need to understand how they play, and they need to understand your game too, so that you can bring the best out of each other.”

“We started building that connection from the moment we both arrived here, and I’m really pleased with how it’s developing. It’s very much a conversation that happens out in the middle, and sometimes it doesn’t even need words. You can just sense how the other guy is playing. In Jaipur, for example, there wasn’t much chat at all, it was just obvious that whenever Virat got on strike, he was happy to rotate it to me.”

“On other days, like the game in Delhi, either of us could have gone on a run. Both of us were striking it well, and it just worked out that I took charge at the start of the third over. Sometimes you talk it through, and sometimes it happens completely organically. It’s a moving picture, said Salt in an episode of the RCB podcast released on Monday.

Asked on first thoughts after being bought by RCB at the IPL 2025 auction, Salt, who previously won the trophy in 2024 with Kolkata Knight Riders, said, My first thought was that this is a team I would really suit playing for. The way RCB have always carried themselves, the brand of cricket they play, it all appealed to me.

“From my very first conversation with Mo after the auction, I could clearly see why they wanted me and what role they had in mind for me. Everything felt very aligned with my game.

Salt has been an integral part of England’s T20I team and he spoke at length about maintaining high standards and strike rate while opening the batting in the shortest format. Cricket now demands a far more attacking style of play. Does that make it the most consistent approach? Probably not.

“There was a time when a batter could think about pushing for the orange cap, but that mindset doesn’t really work in the IPL anymore. For me, and for most of our batting group, it’s not about individual awards. Everything is centered around how we win as a team, and that, for me, is the most important thing in the IPL.

For me, it’s all about working day by day and being completely process-driven. I focus first on the small things; getting into the gym, keeping my body right, making the right decisions physically. Then comes the cricket side of it. When I focus too much on big goals and outcomes, I lose clarity. I learned that the hard way when I was younger. Now everything for me is about small steps and daily progress, not being obsessed with results, he concluded.

--IANS

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