'He's always looking for…': Salt credits Gambhir's advice for IPL success

NEW DELHI: England opener Philip Salt has credited India’s head coach Gautam Gambhir with providing pivotal advice that contributed to his success with Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) during the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL). Salt, who played a crucial role in KKR’s title-winning campaign, praised Gambhir’s mentorship for helping him tackle the challenging conditions in India effectively.
Reflecting on his time with KKR, Salt expressed his appreciation for Gambhir’s competitive nature, which he found resonated with his own approach to the game.
“Brilliant experience doesn’t get any better than you know, 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. He’s, you know, his playing record speaks for itself,” Salt was quoted as saying by ANI during the CEAT Awards.Salt described Gambhir as a relentless competitor who was always looking for ways to improve individual and team performance.
“What a competitor. I could really relate to him from that point of view. He’s always looking for those one per cent what’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. You know one word would be a competitor,” Salt added.
Salt’s performance in the 2024 IPL was impressive. Even though he left before the playoffs to join England’s T20I series against Pakistan, he managed to score 435 runs in 12 matches at an average of 39.55 and a remarkable strike rate of 182.01.

Salt pointed out a specific piece of advice from Gambhir that significantly impacted his batting strategy in the IPL. He recalled a conversation during a training session with Gambhir.
“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,” Salt mentioned.
Gambhir’s strategy aimed to ensure Salt could exploit the latter stages of the innings, particularly at KKR’s home ground, Eden Gardens.
“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,” Salt noted.