Phil Salt’s breathtaking knock of 56 not out off 27 balls against Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Qualifier 1 on Thursday, May 29, helped Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) storm into the finals of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025.
RCB needed only 102 runs to win the match at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur. While Virat Kohli was dismissed for a run-a-ball 12, his fellow opening partner, Salt, took the PBKS bowlers to the cleaners. RCB chased down the paltry target in just 10 overs with two wickets down. Mayank Agarwal was the other batter dismissed after he had scored 19 runs off 13 balls.
After the match, Salt said that it wasn’t the most difficult wicket he had batted on in the 18th edition of the IPL. He also mentioned that he was trying to react to the ball and highlighted the importance of momentum in the business end of the tournament.
“Great feeling right now, it (the ball) did move a bit. I think that was not the worst wicket to have played on this season. Do not get out to Arshdeep. We played 2 group games (with PBKS), and he has found different ways to get me out, so I was just trying to react to the ball. Gives us the momentum, it is a cliche but true, that’s what you want at the backend of the tournament, want to hit your straps and play a part with the bat or ball,” Salt said after the match.
Earlier in the match, PBKS were rolled over for 101 in 14.1 overs. Prabhsimran Singh, Marcus Stoinis, and Azmatullah Omarzai were the only PBKS batters to get into double figures. Josh Hazlewood and Suyash Sharma starred with the ball for RCB, bagging three wickets each. The latter was awarded Player of the Match for his figures of 3/17 in three overs.
RCB have lost three finals, the last of them being in 2016. They would want to break the jinx when they enter the colossal Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on June 3 for the summit clash.
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