KOLKATA: A good start is a job half done, and nobody knows it better than Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bengaluru. The former rode on some electric starts by their openers Sunil Narine and Phil Salt to lift the IPL trophy for the third time last season. It was such a different story just earlier.
Across the IPL editions from 2020 to 2023, KKR had the worst average (25.8) and strike rate (122.3) when it came to making an opening statement. They struggled to get a good start and tried out a number of combinations but with little success.
Things changed drastically when then mentor Gautam Gambhir moved Narine up the order. Salt, on the other hand, was not in Kolkata’s plans on the auction day. He came into the squad as Jason Roy’s replacement just two weeks before he faced the first ball of the competition.
It turned out to be a double bonanza for KKR as the duo tore apart all bowling attacks. Salt and Narine combined for 559 runs in 12 innings, which was the third-best in the 2024 season. They had six fifty-plus partnerships in the season, the most. While Narine scored 488 runs in 15 innings with one century and three 50s at a whopping strike rate of 180, Salt collected 435 runs in 12 innings with four 50s at a rate of 182.
“When I get going, he (Narine) feeds me the strike, and vice-versa. It’s good that we are on the same page,” Salt had said of their combination.
The defending champions will love to carry forward that momentum this season too, but this time they will need to find an able partner for Narine as Salt will sit in the rival dugout when they open the campaign against RCB at the Eden Gardens on Saturday.
South African Quinton de Kock and Afghanistan’s Rahmanullah Gurbaz are two likely candidates to fill that void, with the possibility of the former being the first choice. But with De Kock not among games and Gurbaz having failed to score big in the Champions Trophy, the onus will be more on Narine.
To make KKR’s loss look like RCB’s gain, Salt will need to get his mojo back after some ordinary knocks in international cricket in recent times. He will get enough support from his new opening partner, Virat Kohli, who too would miss his long-time associate Faf du Plessis.
The Indian batter has always operated as RCB’s batting fulcrum with Kohli-du Plessis and Kohli-de Villiers pairs making significant contributions in their campaigns. Kohli and du Plessis scored more runs than any other opening duo in the past two IPL seasons and thus Salt will have big shoes to fill.
RCB will want Kohli to continue what he has been doing for so many years and Salt will have to play a good supporting role. De Villiers, however, pinned hope on the Englishman.
“Salt is one of the most attacking players we’ve seen. He’ll take pressure off Virat,” De Villiers said recently.
Time for the openers to fire the first salvo.
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