“Acquired an incredible quantity of respect for Virat Kohli” – Phil Salt on his RCB opening companion

Phil Salt’s excited to be opening alongside Virat Kohli at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. The Englishman, who was bought by the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) for Rs 11.50 crore at the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 mega auction, was later confirmed as Kohli’s opening partner for the coming season by head coach Andy Flower.

Salt excited about the idea of opening with Kohli

Salt, who’s been one of the best T20 batters in the world over the last couple of years, is excited to bat alongside the greatest IPL batter of all time, Kohli. A couple of days after getting the big paycheck, the opener talked with ESPNcricinfo regarding his new partnership with Kohli and RCB and his time with the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).

“I’ve got a tremendous amount of respect for Virat (Kohli). I’ve always had a bit of chat with him – and a laugh and a joke – when I’ve played against him in the past, so I’m looking forward to playing alongside him,” Salt said.

Salt aligns with RCB’s aggressive mindset

The English opener who’s currently leading the Strikers in the Abu Dhabi T10 feels he’s fit in RCB like a glove fits a hand. The franchise has a trend of having foreign aggressive batters, like Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers. Salt would continue that tradition and also has a great relationship with Andy Flower and Mo Bobat, both of whom have worked for the England and Wales Cricket Board in the past. 

“They’ve got a very clear way of playing the game which is to go out and attack. They’ve always had the fiery personalities and their batting line-ups have been world-class. They’re one of a few teams who, when I was watching IPL years ago, if they were playing, I’d turn the TV on. Obviously they’ve got Andy (Flower) there and Mo Bobat (director of cricket), and I’m really looking forward to playing under them. Having been around them a little bit, I know that we’re quite similar thinkers on the game in some ways – and their track record speaks for itself,” the opener added.

KKR bond

Salt joined KKR last season as a replacement for Jason Roy. He found incredible success there and was one of the reasons why they won consistently. This was the reason why KKR bid for him until Rs 11.25 crore despite paying him just Rs 2 crore last season. Salt remains satisfied that his old franchises tried hard to get him but were short on cash to do so. 

“There wasn’t a whole heap of chat around retention. I feel like, having just won the IPL, they probably had the hardest job of all the franchises, figuring out which direction they were trying to go in with their retentions, so I just sort of left them to it. As you saw, they went hard to try and bring me back. But with the way the auction went for the different teams up to that point, maybe there wasn’t enough money in the room,” Salt concluded

Phil Salt’s IPL stats