The 29-year-old is closing in on 1,500 T20I runs.
September 12, 2025: The Old Trafford crowd saw something unfold in front of their eyes, which won’t be forgotten for ages to come. England piled up a total that still remains a dream for the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). Being 1-0 down in a three-match T20I series against South Africa, the Three Lions came out all guns blazing. They posted 304/2 in the first innings of the second T20I. Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) batter Phil Salt was all over his home ground in Manchester, with an unbeaten 141 off just 60 deliveries.
How do you think a team gets to 304 in 20 overs? Moreover, how would you think a player approaches his innings to get to 141* in just 60 balls? Just go out and throw your bat at everything. That simple, eh?! But, one might be surprised to know that Salt is a man of details. In a recent interview, he opened up on a lot of topics, including the way he prepares for a game, and the pre-game rituals. All those rituals coupled with throwing the bat at everything might get you to 304 in 20 overs.
The English opener has made his name as one of the best T20I openers going around. And it is not just limited to international cricket. Salt was a part of the title-winning campaign for RCB this year. He flew back to England for the birth of his child, but was back on the field within no time to display a stunning catch in the Final. Amongst all the players to have played more than 25 Indian Premier League (IPL) innings, Salt holds the highest strike-rate (175.70).
Though the English opener is pretty much in a purple patch in the shortest format, there was a time when his position in the team hung by a thread. Salt was on paternity leave in the month of June 2025, and missed the tour to the West Indies. Jamie Smith and Ben Duckett opened the batting for England, and were highly successful at the top of the order. This led to a speculation that Smith and Duckett would continue with their roles. Little did they know, that there was Phil coming to add a pinch of Salt to the competition.
Though Salt is one of the most fierce competitors when it comes to opening in T20s, he doesn’t delivery exemplary results out of the blue. The English opener pretty much has a method to his madness. Salt spoke about his preparation and analysis before every match, and weighed in on the factors which he considers while doing the analysis. T20 cricket is all about being innovative to be able to find solutions in the spur of the moment. And according to the premier English opener, it doesn’t come without analysis.
The RCB batter has the habit of sitting down with a notebook and pen before every game. He looks at a lot of footage trying to prepare ahead of a game. Salt also specified that he writes down in his notebook about the moments he feels were important, and then reviews them after a while. This is a fantastic way to develop one’s muscle memory to be in a position to execute the skills required for a situation.
Just when we thought that was it, Salt takes it a notch further. The English opener requests for the bowlers’ pitch-maps, trying to figure out where they concede most of their runs. Moreover, he also delves upon how the opposition sequence their overs. The RCB opener Salt spends a lot of his time analysing the nature of various bowlers. This includes their strengths, areas where they feel most uncomfortable, and the type of deliveries they resort to at the death. To add to that, every bowler has got a different reaction after being belted for a boundary. And Salt tries to get in the head of the bowlers.
The venues play a huge role too. For example, the analysis on bowlers for a match at Cardiff would be extremely different than that of a match at the Wankhede. The conditions at Cardiff allow the bowlers to be in the game. On the other hand, the wicket is pretty much batting-friendly in Mumbai. So while preparing for a game at a particular venue, it would be extremely important for the Englishman to keep his analysis relevant.
“Where they [bowlers] go in the first few balls, that’s a massive tell. You’ve got to look at the whole picture. Where they feel most comfortable going at the death, what their pace-off variations are, and when they bowl them. What does a bowler go to straight after he’s been hit for a boundary?”, described Salt while giving a sneak peek into his analysis.
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The results that Salt has been achieving over the last few weeks are simply sensational. So to speak, the Englishman has made a few changes to his technique, which have created tremendous impact. Salt’s game was very much restricted to the leg-side before, with his focus being on tonking the ball. It is difficult for a batter to maintain his composure when all one is thinking is hitting the ball hard. However, this is one area Salt has worked on really well, along with his mindset.
The RCB batter has made two minor tweaks to his batting technique. He has started holding his bat a bit higher than before, and has also opened the face of the bat in his stance. This allows him to cover the off-side much more than what he used to before. Salt regards these tweaks as ingredients in his recent success, but also specifies that the most important change has been his mindset.
As for Salt, the mindset shift was more about developing his scoring areas. The first six overs in a T20 give the batters the best chance to be ultra-aggressive in their approach. With just two fielders placed outside the 30-yard circle, there is a lot of scope to take the attack to the opposition. And that is where Salt has made the maximum damage. It is about managing the risk to reward ratio for every shot.
“When you’re playing that area well and also hammering the short ball at the same time, two fielders [out of the ring] shouldn’t be enough. It’s been about developing my scoring areas. For example, when someone does throw two [deep fielders] out leg-side, I’ve still got 80 yards there where I can score a boundary at a really low risk”, said Salt.
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