Amid India’s tour of England, England opener Phil Salt shared a hilarious backstage story about how the bond between him and Virat Kohli was created. Phil Salt was then a newcomer to the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) dressing room, so he had very little idea what Virat Kohli was like as a person.
The touring figure of Virat Kohli has been intimidating for newcomers, even to date. It would be wrong to think that Phil Salt joined the IPL franchise and immediately formed a strong bond with the Indian superstar.
Phil Salt reveals a backstage incident with Virat Kohli
It was an unplanned event that led both Kohli and Salt to the right path. Speaking on the Super Over Podcast with host Nikhil Uttamchandani, Phil Salt shared that he somehow broke the ice during an RCB open training session.
As it marked a new start ahead of a fresh season, the franchise arranged an interactive session with their fans. So, there were promotional foam balls that the cricketers were asked to throw towards the crowd. It was a fun activity between the players and the fans.
Phil Salt was then new in the RCB camp
Salt, in search of more fun, thought to throw a ball to his compatriot Liam Livingstone, who was then standing some distance away from Salt. The English opener picked a foam ball and threw it. The opener aimed to hit Livingstone, but the ball took the wrong route, and instead of hitting Livingstone, it straight hit Virat Kohli.
As Salt claimed in the podcast, Virat was then fuming; the ball hit direct on the temple. Virat knew it was Salt, but was looking around, trying to behave normally. After a few moments, he ran straight towards Salt and tackled him.
“Ran at me, tackled me”: Virat Kohli’s response to Phil Salt
The word tackle might sound harsh to hear or read, but it was not a hard tackle; it was Virat Kohli’s own way to welcome the batter.
“It was the RCB open training. They gave us these foam balls, and they were all in the changing room; there were hundreds of them. And then you gotta either throw them into the crowd or hit them into the crowd with a tennis racket.”
“And I saw Livvy at the corner of my eye. I thought, “Right, he is getting it now.” And I’ve thrown this thing, reversed on me, straight into his temple. And he looked around; he was fuming. I just looked the other way, just kept walking as normal,” Salt said.
“And then I just gave it the quick look around… he was staring straight at me, knew it was me. Ran at me, tackled me, and that was the best ice-breaker I think. I think he’s so used to guys worshipping him—and rightly so with all he has achieved. So I think it actually is quite a job for him to sort of relax in front of these guys, because they’re not relaxed,” he added in the same flow.
How the Virat-Salt Partnership Began 😅
Who knew from this moment they would have become one of the IPL’s most successful opening pairs.
FULL EP: https://t.co/5rkAlI200D pic.twitter.com/DIfOaUR3hO
— Super Over (@SuperOverpod) July 6, 2026