「私はヴィラット・コーリをとても尊敬しています」 – フィル・ソルトがRCBのオープニング・パートナーについて語った

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.

Similar thinkers of the game: Salt aligns with RCB’s aggrieve mindset

“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

“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