Phil Salt reveals “best bit of coaching” he got from ‘competitive’ Gautam Gambhir in IPL

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], August 22 (ANI): England opener Philip Salt revealed the “main bit of advice” that he received from India head coach Gautam Gambhir, which helped him do well in the Indian conditions.

Salt was a part of the trophy-winning Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. Gambhir was the team mentor of the franchise at that time when Salt linked with him in the KKR camp.

While reflecting on the time that he spent with Gambhir in the IPL, Salt felt that the former Indian opener’s competitiveness was one factor that helped him relate with him.

“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 and what I found as a player. Just listening to him in his sort of mentoring role,” Salt said during the CEAT Cricketing Rating Awards.

“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,” he added.

Salt was a crucial cog in the KKR team that went on to lift the title by defeating Sunrisers Hyderabad in the final of the cash-rich league.

He left before the playoffs as England called him back for their T20I series against Pakistan before the T20 World Cup.

But before returning, the 27-year-old left a massive impression in the league. With his destructive approach, Salt garnered a whopping 435 runs in 12 matches, averaging 39.55 while scoring runs at a strike rate of 182.01.

The English opener shed light on the piece of advice that he got from Gambhir, which helped him effortlessly score runs.

While recalling a conversation he had with Gambhir during a training session, Salt stated that Gambhir told him to take his knock deep and score runs, especially in the second half of the innings.

“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 ten 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 ten 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 noted.

Salt is likely to return in English colours in their upcoming white-ball series against their arch-rival Australia in September.