Gautam Gambhir, Phil Salt.
The Englishman lauded the aggressive southpaw’s competitive spirit and commended his ability to bring the best out of players, revealing the Indian’s words of wisdom to him.
English batter Phil Salt heaped immense praise on current Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir reflecting on the duo’s work together at IPL 2024 champions Kolkata Knight Riders.
KKR ended their decade-long wait for the IPL trophy with the return of Gambhir as the side’s mentor last year, during which Salt was an absolute revelation at the top of the order getting the side off to one blinder after another.
The Englishman lauded the aggressive southpaw and commended his ability to bring the best out of players.
“Brilliant experience… doesn’t get any better, coming in and winning the IPL first and foremost. I think GG (Gambhir) is no stranger to Indian cricket fans and cricket fans around the world. His playing record speaks for itself and what I found as a player… just listening to him in his sort of mentoring role,” Salt said during the CEAT Awards.
Salt emphasised on the competitive spirit of Gambhir that has helped him thrive at the top level of the sport as a player and as a coach.
“What a competitor. I could really relate to him from that point of view. He’s always looking for the one per cent that’s going to get the individual to be better and what’s going to get the team over the line. So I loved working for him. One word would be a competitor,” Salt added.
Salt further revealed that Gambhir had instructed him to take games deep during KKR’s successful campaign, which also helped him hone his abilities with the willow.
“I think the main bit of advice that I took from GG was to take the game deep, especially here in India. You know, from the moment I got off the first training session, he sat me down, he said, I know you’re going to score runs for us, but I want you to score the majority of your runs between overs ten and 20, he said at Eden Gardens,” Salt continued.
The 27-year-old maverick batter also stated that Gambir’s counsel to him were some the best bits of coaching he had received.
“Even if you know it can be a little bit slow to start with, I want you to hang in there and make sure you’re there from overs ten onwards and get the big overs because you can score so quickly, and I think you know of all the conversations I had, I think that’s the best bit of you know coaching I had,” he signed off.