Hyderabad: Former Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) batter and newly appointed mentor Dinesh Karthik revealed the reason behind picking up England wicketkeeper-batter Phil Salt over India's Ishan Kishan and former skipper Faf du Plessis in the recently concluded Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 auction.
RCB released a video on their social media handle, explaining the thought process behind letting Ishan Kishan and Faf du Plessis and buy Phil Salt for a huge amount in the IPL 2025 auction.
RCB’s Auction Planning Docu Series: 𝗘𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝟯 - 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝘁𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗗𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲
— Royal Challengers Bengaluru (@RCBTweets) December 11, 2024
Chinnaswamy has been a struggle for the best of bowlers in the past! One of the priorities was to get a gun bowling unit that can succeed in such batter friendly conditions. And… pic.twitter.com/McVWx8M9U2
Du Plessis' age was a big factor behind not retaining Du Plessis and bringing him back into the squad. Salt's numbers, coupled with his wicket-keeping skills, made him a great pick. He also highlighted the importance of the batter's strike rate against spin in the first six balls of the innings.
𝗘𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝟮: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗮𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗵 - 𝗣𝗵𝗶𝗹 𝗦𝗮𝗹𝘁 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 🧨
— Royal Challengers Bengaluru (@RCBTweets) December 10, 2024
Explosive power was the order of the day/week/season and our Think Tank nailed the No. 1 pick - Numbers don’t lie! 🤯
This is @bigbasket_com presents Bold Diaries. Big Basket Delivers Groceries… pic.twitter.com/M0PWdhCxhD
"We would want a foreign opener because, on the day they get going, they can score a hundred in 60, 50, or 40 balls, whatever it might be. Players like Jos Buttler and Phil Salt have done this time and time again," Karthik said in the video shared by RCB on X.
That was some intense bidding war for Phil Salt! 😎 😎
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) November 24, 2024
He goes to #RCB for INR 11.50 Crore 🙌 🙌#TATAIPLAuction | #TATAIPL | @PhilSalt1 | @RCBTweets pic.twitter.com/quCx3OLiqt
Karthik then highlighted that the franchise wanted an overseas opener who would give a fiery start to the side's innings. "We would want a foreign opener because, on the day they get going, they can score a hundred in 60, 50, or 40 balls, whatever it might be. Players like Jos Buttler and Phil Salt have done this time and time again," Karthik added.
He also talked about the discussion on Ishan Kishan's case and why they didn't go his way. "Among Indian players, I can only think of Ishan Kishan, who has done that to a small degree. We know why we don't want to go there (open with an Indian opener) because the power is not there," former RCB wicketkeeper-batter reflected.
