RR vs RCB: The Phil Salt Factor in Royal Challengers Bengaluru's march in IPL 2025 | Mint

“I think they almost won the match in the PowerPlay” – Sanju Samson, after Royal Challengers beat Bangalore Rajasthan Royals by nine wickets, with 15 balls to save, in match 28 of IPL 2025. The win made it four out of four for RCB in “Way” matches this season, while they lost the two home matches. The Royals dressed a competitive 173 for 4 on a slow Jaipur track, but thanks to Phil Salt, the chase almost became a walk for RCB. On the IPL 2025 Mega Auction, RCB had to strike a fierce charge of KKR to pull Phil Salt away from his old franchise, and eventually shot £ 11.50 crore. Given his performances so far, and its potential, it even looks like a bargain. How salt killed the chase against Rajasthan salt would end with 65 out of 33, easily the most important turn of the match. But before that, he had to survive against a man he knew very well: Jofra Archer. The match started with Archer steaming in salt. He packed his legs, and bowled at a rogue pace while bending the ball in salt. There were a four that counted as runs, although it went off the thigh, with the salt cut in the first first ball. There was a six-high six over fine leg, which was the area targeting Salt, because he moved far across his stumps, and realized that runs were not on the side. And there was a tremendous close scream for LBW of the final ball denied. Salt’s movement to the offside yielded that bonus – he got far enough that the impact was slightly out of line. Its root was Salt’s intention. “I gave it early doors to try and hit by abroad, but he swung it quite far, so I realized that there was only one area of ​​the ground, I could try to hit the ball,” Salt would say after the game. “Jof (Jofra) and I have a lot of battles in the nets. He bowled more on me than he bowled with someone else, and I faced him more than I faced with someone else. ‘ Given the Royals’ non-porch, it would have been easy to take a ‘safety first’ approach against Archer. If he did, it was likely that salt would have lost his wicket in the first time. It was because he was still looking to score, not just runs, but also boundaries, that he was in the positions he did. And by getting into those positions, he avoids the LBW, while he also collected runs. In fact, salt was not in full control of any of the balls in the first time. His intention still reached ten runs. SALT’s impact for RCB as MO Bobat, RCB’s director of cricket, put it – Salt did what he does. “You almost want your openers to go out and just do what they do. And when you talk about what you do, Phil Salt was a good example of that, “Bobat said after the game. ‘I always have a preference, with a slightly lower scores (chasing) that we start with the purpose of going to the score. Phil Salt did a good job of breaking the back of the total, which the pressure then collected from everyone else. ” So far in IPL 2025, Salt has 208 runs in six innings for RCB. The key is that these runs came out of just 112 balls, a strike rate of 185.71. Put another way, if Salt had faced all 20 overs of a turn and had beaten and beaten at this rate of standings, he would score about 223 for 7 of only his bat, without extras. In the previous match of RCB, at home against Delhi Capitals, Salt batted at 37 out of 17 when he runs out in a blending with Virat Kohli. It is fair to say, RCB may have had five wins from their six games as Salt’s turn continued on its natural track. He showed how much of a difference he could make against the royalty at a tougher pitch. The good news for RCB is that he has just started in IPL 2025. First published: 13 Apr 2025, 23:20 IST