Virat Kohli and Phil Salt of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (Photo: Pankaj Nangia/Getty Images) England opening batsman Phil Salt highlighted his successful partnership with Virat Kohli at Royal Challengers Bengaluru during IPL 2025. The Salt-Kohli opening partnership proved to be key to RCB’s victory in IPL 2025 by providing strong starts in the overs.“It’s always important to have a strong rapport with whoever you’re opening up with. You have to understand how they play and he has to understand your game to get the best out of you,” he said on the RCB podcast.
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“We started building that connection from the moment we both arrived here and I’m really happy with how it’s going. It’s very much a conversation that happens in the middle and sometimes it doesn’t even need words. You can just sense how the other person is playing. For example, in Jaipur there was no talking at all, it was just obvious that whenever Virat attacked me, he was happy to bat.“On other days, like the Delhi game, either of us could have run away. We both hit it well and it worked out that I took the lead at the start of the third period. Sometimes you talk it out and sometimes it happens quite organically. It’s a moving picture.”Salt, who won the IPL trophy with Kolkata Knight Riders in 2024, shared his thoughts on joining RCB.“My first thought was that this is a team I would really like to play 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 were planning for me. Everything was very much in line with my game,” he added.A key member of England’s T20I squad, Salt discussed his approach to batting in the shortest format.“Cricket now requires a much more attacking style of play. Does that make it the most consistent approach? Probably not. There was a time when a batsman might think about pushing for the orange cap, but that mindset doesn’t really work in the IPL anymore. For me and most of our batting group, it’s not about individual accolades. It’s all about how we win as a team and that’s the most important thing for me,” I explained.“For me it’s all about working day by day and managing the processes completely. First I focus on the little things; getting to the gym, keeping my body in order, making the right decisions physically. Then comes the cricketing side. When I focus too much on big goals and results, I lose clarity. When I was younger, I learned the hard way. Now for me it’s all about small steps and daily progress.”
