Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) guide. Dinesh Karthik Reveal why the franchise chose Phil Salt Ishan Kishan In the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 auction. He stressed that they do not want the Indian opener because they do not have much strength.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) held a fantastic auction in Jeddah. They had clear minds about who they wanted in the team and ended up selecting some big winners for the team. It is fair to say that they were among the few difference Who nailed the auction.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru bought Josh Hazlewood, Phil Salt, Jitesh Sharma, Liam Livingstone, Raseekh Dhar, Suyash Sharma and Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar KumarSwapnil Singh, Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Nuwan Thushara, Manoj Bhandage, and Jacob Bethel for the upcoming release.
But one thing that caught the attention of many is that Royal Challengers Bengaluru did not pick any big Indian name. They had a lot of money in their wallet and were expected to go for the Indian opener, particularly Ishan Kishan, with many expecting them to pick the former Mumbai Indians pacer.
We want to open a foreign match because the day they start, they can score a hundred in 60, 50 or 40 balls – Dinesh Karthik
With the team now finalizing the lineups, Dinesh Karthik revealed their desire for a foreign opener. He claimed that foreign players can turn the tide of a match quickly, adding that players like Jos Buttler and Phil Salt have done the same time and again. He explained in a video shared by RCB:
“We want a foreign opener because the day they start, they can score a hundred in 60, 50, 40 balls, whatever it is. Players like Jos Buttler and Phil Salt have done that time and time again.”
'The strength is not there' – Dinesh Karthik on why RCB doesn't want the Indian opener
Dinesh Karthik, while mentioning Ishan Kishan, added that they do not want to participate in the Indian opener because he does not have the power. He explained:
“Among the Indian players, I can only think of Ishan Kishan, who has done that to some extent. We know why we don't want to go there (opener with an Indian match) because the strength is not there.”
My agreement is that Phil Salt scores six to eight runs more than 28% of the time and 12-15 runs more than 30% of the time – Dinesh Karthik
Dinesh Karthik, while emphasizing why Royal Challengers Bengaluru chose Phil Salt, pointed out the batsman's amazing run-scoring rate in the powerplay as the figure indicates that he tends to hit 12-15 runs 30% of the time. He explained:
“My agreement is that Phil Salt scores six to eight runs more than 28% of the time and 12-15 runs more than 30% of the time. One out of every four times, he scores 16 or more runs, and one out of two times, Scores 12 or more points.
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