KKR's 2024 season culminated in victory following a campaign where they had been the best side by far. They dominated the group stage with nine wins in 14 matches, before beating the second-placed Sunrisers Hyderabad twice in succession during the playoffs to lift the trophy.
A major contributor to KKR's success was their opening partnership of Phil Salt and Sunil Narine. Narine was promoted to open the innings once again this season, a move that coinicided with Gautam Gambhir's return to the franchise in a mentoring role.
Newly appointed India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate has said his side’s ability to play spin has been on a decline, and his focus is to revive their traditional strength.
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England international Salt was a replacement player for KKR. After going unsold in the player auction, he was brought into the fold to take the place of compatriot Jason Roy, who had pulled out of the tournament in March due to personal reasons.
The move paid rich dividends as Salt formed a devastating combination with the Trinidadian Narine. He scored 435 runs in 12 matches at a strike rate of over 180, before leaving the franchise ahead of the playoffs to fulfill his international commitments for England.
Phil Salt: I loved working for Gautam Gambhir
Speaking at the CEAT Cricket Rating awards on Wednesday (August 21), Salt heaped praise on current India head coach Gambhir for the role he had played in getting the best out of the batter.
"What a competitor. I could really relate to him from that point of view. He's always looking for those one percent what's going to get the individual to be better and what's going to get the team over the line," Salt was quoted as saying by ANI. "So I loved working for him."
On a more technical note, Salt also outlined the advice Gambhir had for him. The Englishman called it the "best bit of coaching" he had with the former India opener, saying, "I think the main bit of advice I took from Gambhir was to take the game deep, especially here in India.
"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 twenty, at Eden Gardens. Even if you know it can be a little slow to start with, I want you to hang in there and make sure you're there from ten overs onwards and get the big overs because you can score quickly.'"
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