'I know you're going to score runs for us, but…’ – Phil Salt reveals ‘best bit of coaching advice’ he got from Gautam Gambhir at KKR

England opener Phil Salt played a significant role in Kolkata Knight Riders' (KKR) victory in the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL). He forged a scintillating pair with Windies cricketer Sunil Narine to provide a blazing start for the team. Their exploits at the top often laid the foundations and made it easy for the rest of the batters to take the team total to a huge one.  

Salt had to leave the KKR camp at the business end of the tournament but ensured his team was in a safe position. The aggressive opener finished with 435 runs in 12 innings at a staggering strike rate of 182. Recently, during the CEAT Cricketing Rating Awards function, Salt recalled how former KKR mentor Gautam Gambhir's advice helped him have a successful outing.

The right-hander revealed that the new Indian head coach asked him to take the game deep by scoring the majority of the runs in the last 10 overs. Gambhir also backed Salt's ability to score aggressively as the Englishman felt it was the best bit of coaching advice he received.  

“I think the main bit of advice that I took from GG was to take the game deep, especially here in India. You know, from the moment I got off the first training session, he sat me down, he said, 'I know you're going to score runs for us, but I want you to score the majority of your runs between overs 10 and 20', he said at Eden Gardens," Salt said.

"Even if you know it can be a little bit slow to start with, I want you to hang in there and make sure you're there from overs 10 onwards and get the big overs because you can score so quickly', and I think you know of all the conversations I had, I think that's the best bit of you know coaching I had," he added.

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He's always looking for those one per cent: Salt on how Gambhir gets the best out of an individual

Before the triumph in the 2024 season, the last time KKR tasted success in the IPL was in 2014, under the captaincy of Gambhir. They didn't have an effective outing for the last 9 years and things changed with the arrival of Gambhir in a new role. Salt said the two-time World Cup winner always tries his best to bring out the best in a player.

"What a competitor. I could really relate to him from that point of view. He's always looking for those one per cent what's going to get the individual to be better and what's going to get the team over the line. So I loved working for him. You know one word would be a competitor," the 27-year-old concluded.

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