Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra has picked the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) potential opening combination of Virat Kohli and Phil Salt as one of their strengths in the IPL 2025. He also added that the Chinnaswamy Stadium pitch will suit Salt as well. Kohli (₹21 crore) was among RCB’s three retentions before the auction, with Rajat Patidar (₹11 crore) and Yash Dayal (₹5 crore) being the other two as well. They acquired Salt for ₹11.50 crore.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel ‘Aakash Chopra’, he said, “In batting, Phil Salt with Virat Kohli. It is a beautiful combination. Many other combinations could have been there. It could have been Virat Kohli-Jos Buttler, Virat Kohli-Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli-KL Rahul, Virat Kohli-Jake Farser-McGurk and even Virat Kohli-Rishabh Pant. However, they said they didn’t want any of them but wanted Phil Salt.”
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“Considering the way Phil Salt performed last year, and the Bengaluru pitch is as flat as Kolkata, it will suit him, and he will hit a lot. We will get to see Phil Salt’s assault. He can hit many balls into Cubbon Park. He has not only destroyed in the IPL but has been consistently destroying even after that,” he shared.
In the same video, Aakash Chopra chose the Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s new-ball attack as another of their strengths as well.
“The first thing they tried to do was to upgrade their bowling. They let Mohammed Siraj go but signed Josh Hazlewood. This team signed Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Yash Dayal was already with this team. So the new-ball attack has become thumbs up with both hands. Since too many wickets do not fall at this ground (Chinnaswamy Stadium) in the powerplay, if you are able to pick up more than one wicket in the powerplay overs, you take a step forward. Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar – you have got three good new-ball bowlers, and they have signed Rasikh Salam Dar for ₹6 crore. They have kept him for death bowling as well,” Chopra observed.
