Salt and Kohli have helped RCB win two IPL titles in 2025 and 2026.
Salt joined RCB for the IPL 2025 season. Before the season began, the team held a fan event called "RCB Unbox 2025," where the players practiced in front of spectators.
Salt disclosed that he had unintentionally delivered a ball that was meant for Liam Livingstone and struck Kohli in the forehead. But according to the English Dasher, it was the ideal way to start their relationship.
"Hitting him with the foam ball during training at the unboxing event was the best thing that happened to our relationship. The balls were meant to either be thrown into the crowd or hit to the crowd. I saw Livingstone out of the corner of my eye and wanted to get him. So, I threw the ball, but it reversed and hit Virat straight into his temple. He looked around and was fuming. I quickly looked around, and he was staring at me as he knew who it was and then tackled me,” Salt said on the Super Over YouTube channel.
We sense the banter between Virat and Salt is only going to get better as the season goes on! ????#PlayBold #ನಮ್ಮRCB #RCBUnbox pic.twitter.com/YhcV3U15lL
— Royal Challengers Bengaluru (@RCBTweets) March 17, 2025
"But that was the best ice-breaker because I think he's so used to guys worshipping him, and rightly so. Yet, his teammates, instead of being his teammates, can get caught in the aura of Virat. So it's quite a job for him to relax in front of these guys because they are not relaxed around him,” he added.
Salt and Kohli have formed a successful opening partnership, helping RCB win back-to-back titles in 2025 and 2026.
Citing an example from an IPL 2025 match, Phil Salt went on to praise Virat Kohli for his ability to read the game for both himself and his partners. Due to a fortunate matchup, the Englishman disclosed that the champion Indian batter encouraged him to go crazy early in an innings against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).
"It was just the third over of batting with him ever in the IPL at Eden Gardens. And we scored just 15 off the first two overs. Yet, between the second and the third over, he just said, "Kill him." That's all he said—kill him and make this a big over. It wasn't like we had hit many boundaries, but he just knew that this was my matchup. I knew it was my matchup as well, but I didn't know if it was the time to go for a 20-run over. But he knew and gave me that clarity," said Salt.
"That's huge when you have knowledge of your teammates. It's like De Bruyne and Haaland in English football. You see it in different sports where people build that relationship, but it's not so prevalent in cricket. So to have someone batting with you, who can read the game on your behalf sometimes, is massive,” he added.
How the Virat-Salt Partnership Began ????
— Super Over (@SuperOverpod) July 6, 2026
Who knew from this moment they would have become one of the IPL’s most successful opening pairs.
FULL EP: https://t.co/5rkAlI200D pic.twitter.com/DIfOaUR3hO
Kohli had had amazing success with the bat for RCB recently, scoring 657 and 675 runs in RCB’s two title wins in 2025 and 2026, respectively.