"It is a beautiful combination" - Aakash Chopra on RCB's opening pair of Virat Kohli and Phil Salt heading into IPL 2025
Aakash Chopra has picked the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) potential opening combination of Virat Kohli and Phil Salt as one of their strengths heading into IPL 2025. He pointed out that the Chinnaswamy Stadium pitch will suit Salt.
Kohli (₹21 crore) was among RCB's three retentions before the auction, with Rajat Patidar (₹11 crore) and Yash Dayal (₹5 crore) being the other two. They acquired Salt for ₹11.50 crore at the recent mega auction in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel 'Aakash Chopra', the cricketer-turned-analyst opined that Salt is an excellent opening partner for Kohli. However, he acknowledged that the franchise had several other options as well.
"In batting, Phil Salt with Virat Kohli. It is a beautiful combination. Many other combinations could have been there. It could have been Virat Kohli-Jos Buttler, Virat Kohli-Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli-KL Rahul, Virat Kohli-Jake Farser-McGurk and even Virat Kohli-Rishabh Pant. However, they said they didn't want any of them but wanted Phil Salt," he said (3:30).
Chopra expects Salt to replicate his good performances for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in IPL 2024 for his new franchise in the upcoming season.
"Considering the way Phil Salt performed last year, and the Bengaluru pitch is as flat as Kolkata, it will suit him, and he will hit a lot. We will get to see Phil Salt's assault. He can hit many balls into Cubbon Park. He has not only destroyed in the IPL but has been consistently destroying even after that," he reasoned.
Chopra added that RCB's batting has depth as well as firepower. He noted that Rajat Patidar, Liam Livingstone, Tim David/Jacob Bethell, Jitesh Sharma, and Krunal Pandya will likely follow Kohli and Salt in the batting order.
"The new-ball attack has become thumbs up with both hands" - Aakash Chopra on RCB's other positive
![Bhuvneshwar Kumar was one of the seamers acquired by RCB at the IPL 2025 auction. [P/C: iplt20.com]](https://statico.sportskeeda.com/editor/2024/12/a0ecb-17330263827257-1920.jpg?w=500)
In the same video, Aakash Chopra chose the Royal Challengers Bengaluru's new-ball attack as another of their strengths.
"The first thing they tried to do was to upgrade their bowling. They let Mohammed Siraj go but signed Josh Hazlewood. This team signed Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Yash Dayal was already with this team. So the new-ball attack has become thumbs up with both hands," he said (1:30).
The former India opener added that Rasikh Dar's acquisition also gives RCB a good death-bowling option.
"Since too many wickets do not fall at this ground (Chinnaswamy Stadium) in the powerplay, if you are able to pick up more than one wicket in the powerplay overs, you take a step forward. Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar - you have got three good new-ball bowlers, and they have signed Rasikh Salam Dar for ₹6 crore. They have kept him for death bowling as well," Chopra observed.
RCB bought Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar for ₹12.50 crore and ₹10.75 crore, respectively. They acquired Dar for ₹6 crore, making him the most expensive uncapped player at the auction.