Phil Salt and Virat Kohli in action for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in IPL 2025. (PHOTO: AP)England opening batter Phil Salt opened up about his batting with talisman Virat Kohli for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the Indian Premier League, saying that there wasn’t a need to have conversations in the middle all the time and he was happy with the way his bond was growing with the 37-year-old former franchise captain.
Salt gave two examples of matches in Jaipur and Delhi, where both players took the aggressive route at the top of the order without having to talk at great length about who would have to take the initiative in the middle.
“It’s always important to have a strong relationship with whoever you’re 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,” Salt said on the RCB podcast.
The right-hander also spoke about the fixture against Chennai Super Kings at Chepauk early on in the 2025 IPL season, where the visitors went on to win for the first time since 2008. Salt said that for him personally, this match felt like the Manchester derby between Manchester United and Manchester City.
“Going into Chennai for just my second game with RCB, I knew this wasn’t just another match. The way the guys spoke about it made it clear how big this rivalry is. For me, it felt like a Manchester derby. You could sense the build-up in training, in the media, and in conversations around the group. Once you become aware of that history and that rivalry, you realise just how big that game really is,” he said.
He further said that when he got picked by RCB, he personally felt he was suited to play for the franchise, for the brand of cricket they played in the middle.
“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,” said Salt.
Salt made 403 runs in 13 matches at a strike rate of 175.98 in the 2025 IPL.
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