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Kolkata Knight Riders got a major blow as their power-packed opener, Phil Salt left the side to fulfil the international commitments for England. The KKR opener will be contesting in the upcoming T20 World Cup in June. While the biennial event is scheduled after the Indian Premier League 2024, other English players who are part of the 15-man squad, have also left their sides to be part of England’s upcoming T20 series against Pakistan.
The England Cricket Board (ECB) in its recent announcement had asked all the selected players for the T20 World Cup to return in time for the T20 series against Pakistan.
“Selected players, currently playing in the Indian Premier League, will return in time for the series against Pakistan, which gets underway at Headingley on Wednesday 22 May 2024,” the apex board had earlier said in its statement.”
The KKR opener joined the likes of Jos Buttler, Will Jacks and Reece Topley who had departed early to join the England team.
Phil Salt was roped in as a replacement for his fellow Englishman Jason Roy after going unsold in the auction. The right-hand batter left no stone unturned for the two-time former champions in proving his worth as he emphatically anchored the batting role. Salt smashed 435 runs from 12 matches being the second-highest scorer for his team, at a strike rate of 182 and an average of 39.54.
After leaving the side, Salt also dedicated an Instagram post to the Knight Riders, which he had captioned, “#AmiKKR”.
A post shared by Phil Salt (@phil_salt)
KKR spinner Varun Chakaravarthy commented on the post. “Hey salty… Will miss u champ…all the best for the upcoming games…” he wrote.
Shreyas Iyer put up a story on his Instagram handle where he called Salt a “champion”.
With the English batter not available for KKR for the remainder of the tournament, KKR will be in search of a new opener who can match the sting of the Englishman. Salt had been opening with Sunil Narine where the duo unleashed devastation against all the bowling units of the league. In the 12 innings played by both together, Narine and Salt had posted six 50-plus partnerships for the Knight Riders.
While KKR became the first team to cement their place in the top 2 after their previous match against the Gujarat Titans was washed out, they’ll surely miss the English batter who had displayed pure carnage with a lot of match-winning innings for the team as they now look forward to the playoffs.
