Phil Salt to miss IPL 2025 final? Royal Challengers Bengaluru sweat over England opener’s availability

The Royal Challengers Bengaluru will be sweating on the availability of Phil Salt, as the aggressive England opener missed the team’s training session on the eve of the Indian Premier League final at the Narendra Modi Stadium.

While the Bengaluru side has not made any official comment on Salt, rumour mills have gone abuzz that RCB will have to do without their star opener in the summit clash against the Punjab Kings.

IPL 2025: Phil Salt key to RCB’s fortunes

The England batsman has been instrumental in RCB getting off to quick starts, and his opening partnership with Virat Kohli is the fastest opening pair for the franchise in the history of the T20 league.

The duo have scored 664 runs at an average of 47.42, and the run rate when they bat together is 10.29.

Phil Salt has been the key to the opening burst, having scored 387 runs at a strike rate of 175.9 this season. The strike rate is the fourth highest for an RCB batter who has faced at least 200 balls in a season.

The right-handed batsman was not at the ground on Monday while the rest of the RCB players were put through their paces during the training session.

Is Phil Salt back home?

While there have been no reports of an injury, and players skipping practice sessions is not out of the ordinary, Salt may potentially not be in India.

According to a few reports, Salt and his partner are expecting a child soon, and rumours are abuzz that he may have hurried back home to be with his family.

While there are no confirmed reports yet, with Andy Flower famously tight-lipped on players’ availability until the very end, RCB fans will be sweating at the prospect of a player as important as Salt missing out on the summit clash.

The Bengaluru side will appear in their fourth IPL final and are on the cusp of winning their first-ever title.

With Salt in the XI, they have a much better chance than without.

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