Image source, ReutersEngland and Royal Challengers Bengaluru batter Phil Salt’s struggles at the top of the order continued as he fell to international team-mate Jofra Archer from the first ball of the match against Rajasthan Royals.
He was beaten for pace by Archer and top-edged to keeper Dhruv Jurel, which set the tone for Royals’ six-wicket win in Guwahati.
Salt has scored 54 runs in three innings for RCB, with 46 of them coming in one knock, and averaged 16.25 across eight games in the preceding T20 World Cup which took place in India and Sri Lanka.
It is understandable why RCB would want to stick with Salt, who formed an effective opening partnership with Virat Kohli in last year’s title-winning campaign when the pair scored 565 runs in 13 innings together, at a strike-rate of 174.3.
However, it could soon become difficult to ignore the other Englishman in RCB’s ranks.
Jacob Bethell, 22, has remained on the bench so far, having found himself in a similar position in 2025 by making just two appearances for the franchise.
Bethell’s lack of game time saw him struggle early in the UK summer but then went on a stunning run of form by scoring international centuries in all three formats – the most recent being his magnificent century against India in the semi-final of the T20 World Cup.
England’s Jordan Cox is also in RCB’s squad as a spare batter, but considering Bethell’s recent exploits, he is the most likely candidate if they decide to rotate the squad.
RCB next play against Mumbai Indians on Sunday and the tight turnaround could give Salt another opportunity, but he likely needs to fire soon.
