England opener Philip Salt has ascribed his success with Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) during the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL) to advice given by India’s head coach, Gautam Gambhir. Salt played a crucial role in KKR’s title-winning campaign and credited Gambhir for mentoring him through tough conditions in India.
Salt said he really appreciated Gambhir’s competitive spirit when playing for KKR because they both had a similar mindset towards cricket.
According to Parami, Salt said, “Brilliant experience doesn’t get any better than you know, coming in and winning the IPL first and foremost. I think GG (Gambhir) is no stranger to Indian cricket fans and cricket fans around the world. He’s, you know, his playing record speaks for itself.” The article was from CEAT Awards conducted by Parami. Salt describes Gambhir as someone who was always striving to improve his own performance along with that of the team.
“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,” Salt added.
Salt had an impressive performance during IPL 2024; however, despite leaving before playoffs due to England T20 series against Pakistan. He managed 12 matches scoring 435 runs at an average of 39.55 and an amazing strike rate of 182.01.
He identified one key piece of advice that Gautam gave him about how he approached batting in IPL tournament. Which impacted his play significantly. He recollects having been involved in such discussion during training session with Gautam Gambhir.
“Main thing I got out of GG was try take it deep here especially here in India too much from my first training session he pulled me,” Salt exposed.
Gambhir’s plan was to enable Salt take full advantage of the latter part of innings. Especially in Eden Gardens which is KKR’s home ground.
“I want you to be there from over ten onwards even if you know it could be a little bit slow to start with and get the big overs because you can score so quickly and I think you know of all the conversations. I had with the coaches, that was probably one of the most important thing,” Salt stated.
