Published: May 24, 2025, 12:51 PM (IST)
Edited: May 24, 2025, 12:52 PM (IST)
Royal Challengers Bengaluru opener Phil Salt sees a silver lining in their defeat against Sunrisers Hyderabad and says they rather have a loss like that in the league stage than in the IPL play-offs.
Chasing 232, opening duo of Salt (62) and Virat Kohli (43) provided RCB a blistering start but rest of the batting faltered as RCB were bundled out for 189 in 19.5 overs.
RCB are already through to the playoffs, and Salt said the defeat shouldn’t dent their confidence.
“That’s one way of looking at it. The other way of looking at it is, you don’t mind having this game not in the playoffs. So, yeah, you can take it as a disappointment or you can take it for what it is,” he said at the post-match press conference.
“We’re qualified, we’ve lost a game. No one likes to lose games of cricket. I’m hating the fact we’ve lost, as will everybody else in an RCB shirt. You’d rather have that now than you would in an eliminator, let’s say. So, we’re going to get an opportunity to pick the bones out of it and have a look at things we did well and things we didn’t do so well and come back,” he said.
Following the loss, RCB’s hopes of a top-two finish now depend on other results. Even a win in their final league game against Lucknow Super Giants will only take them to 19 points. Salt said the team isn’t overly concerned about its final league position.
“I can’t sit here and tell you that we prefer to finish first, second, third or fourth. We’ve qualified for the playoffs, and once you’re in the playoffs, you’ve got to go and play in a carefree manner and do what you can to win the trophy,” he added.
Salt had missed RCB’s match against Chennai Super Kings on May 3 due to fever. The IPL was subsequently paused for a week owing to the India-Pakistan conflict, and RCB’s next game against Kolkata Knight Riders was washed out. The Welshman said he is just glad to be back on the field.
“It’s a funny one. Obviously, when you’re ill, you sit in your bed and wonder if you’re ever going to feel better again and you think about all the things that you took for granted when you were healthy. As a group, we’ve not played cricket until tonight in three weeks or so and I don’t think I’ve played in a month, which is a long time. So, more than anything else, I’m just glad that, I’m healthy and I’m feeling good and I’m playing another game of cricket.” he concluded.
Speaking about the match, Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru by 42 runs in an IPL match here on Friday.
Sunrisers Hyderabad posted a competitive 231 for 6, riding on Ishan Kishan’s 48-ball unbeaten 94 and then restricted RCB to 189 in 19.5 overs.
Apart from Kishan, left-handed opener Abhishek Sharma smashed 17-ball 34 with almost all the RCB bowlers being among the wickets.
