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Phil Salt 50 off 25 balls vs KKR Photograph: (X)
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) opener Phil Salt returned to his former stomping grounds at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. The right-handed batter took just 25 balls to score fifty runs against defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders on Saturday. RCB ended their powerplay with the score reading 80 for no loss, needing 95 runs from 14 overs.
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Salt on fire#ipl2025#KKRvsRCB#MCCelebrityEcpic.twitter.com/Xeg8XelCUE
— Ssanjay (@SsanjayPrince) March 22, 2025
Chasing 175 runs to win, RCB got off to a great start, scoring 12 runs off the first over. Salt hit the first ball of the chase for four runs, while Virat Kohli also opened his account with a four. Spencer Johnson, making his debut for KKR, conceded just five runs from his first over, which included a boundary by the English batter.
Salt then hit a four and six in the first two balls of the third over by Vaibhav Arora. 20 runs were scored from the third over as RCB were able to score 37 runs from the first three overs of the game. It was a great start to the chase for RCB, who had made a great comeback with the ball in the first innings of the game.
Phil Salt’s half-century deflates KKR bowlers
Skipper Ajinkya Rahane then decided to bring Varun Chakravarthy into the attack in the fourth over. 21 runs were scored in the over as Salt hit three fours and a six to put his team firmly in control of the game. The right-handed batter reached 44 off just 19 balls as KKR’s bowlers were left clueless by the assault.
Virat Kohli began the fifth over of the innings by hitting Spencer Johnson for two sixes in successive balls. That over produced 17 runs as RCB managed to race to 75 for no loss after five overs. The introduction of Harshit Rana in the sixth over saw the young pacer give away just five runs.
Varun Chakravarthy finally ended Salt’s stint at the crease when he had the English batter caught by Johnson for 56 runs. Salt’s knock came off 31 balls with nine boundaries and two sixes to put his team in control. It was a great start to the season for the ex-KKR star, who had played a key role in his team's third title win last year.