It is a situation that only the vagaries of the IPL auction can explain. Eleven months after attracting no interest from the 10 franchises, Phil Salt attracted a winning bid of INR 11.50 crore - around GBP 1.08 million or USD 1.37 million - from Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Sunday night, and will spend next spring opening the batting with Virat Kohli at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Despite his snub at last year's auction, Salt became an integral part of Kolkata Knight Riders' title-winning side in IPL 2024. Having signed as a replacement player, he scored 435 runs - at a strike rate of 182 - and formed a dynamic opening partnership with Sunil Narine. KKR bid aggressively to get him back on Sunday, but ended up running out of funds.
KKR had retention rights on Salt before the auction, but opted to keep hold of six other players instead. "There wasn't a whole heap of chat around retention," Salt told ESPNcricinfo. "I feel like, having just won the IPL, they probably had the hardest job of all the franchises, figuring out which direction they were trying to go in with their retentions, so I just sort of left them to it."
They entered a bidding war with RCB, but after spending INR 23.75 crore to bring Venkatesh Iyer back, found themselves pulling out. "As you saw, they went hard to try and bring me back," Salt said. "But with the way the auction went for the different teams up to that point, maybe there wasn't enough money in the room."
The result is that Salt will form part of a characteristically formidable RCB batting line-up, with head coach Andy Flower confirming he will open with Kohli. "I've got a tremendous amount of respect for Virat," Salt said. "I've always had a bit of chat with him - and a laugh and a joke - when I've played against him in the past, so I'm looking forward to playing alongside him."
He looks like a natural fit for a franchise associated with fearless batting, and recalls watching Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers playing for them as a teenager. "They've got a very clear way of playing the game which is to go out and attack," Salt said. "They've always had the fiery personalities and their batting line-ups have been world-class.
"They're one of a few teams who, when I was watching IPL years ago, if they were playing, I'd turn the TV on. Obviously they've got Andy there and Mo Bobat [as director of cricket], and I'm really looking forward to playing under them. Having been around them a little bit, I know that we're quite similar thinkers on the game in some ways - and their track record speaks for itself."
Salt followed the auction from the United Arab Emirates, where he is playing for - and captaining - Team Abu Dhabi in the Abu Dhabi T10. "It was pretty cool," he said. "Obviously it feels like a long way away at the minute, but I'm very, very excited for it."
He will have two England team-mates for company in Bengaluru: Liam Livingstone, who has spent the last three seasons at Punjab Kings, and IPL newcomer Jacob Bethell. "He's very committed, and there's not many people out there that have the skill that he's got," Salt said of Bethell. "Hopefully, he does well in his Test debut coming up."
Salt revealed his own ambitions to play Test cricket earlier this year, but his chance to press his case for selection in the County Championship was thwarted by his IPL deal and he has not played a first-class game in over a year. He was mentioned as a contender when Jordan Cox went down injured in New Zealand this week, but Ollie Robinson is the preferred replacement.
Salt recently signed his first central contract with England, but has not yet sought talks with either Rob Key or Brendon McCullum to discuss a potential route into the Test side. In any case, there is unlikely to be a vacancy after the New Zealand tour when Jamie Smith returns from paternity leave.
"It's been said before that you don't have to play a load of red-ball cricket to make a case," Salt said. "But I'm pretty content with where I'm at, at the minute… It is tricky. I'd have liked to play more. I'd like to play all formats, but the way that the schedule is at the minute for me, that's not the easiest thing to do."