Phil Salt to miss IPL 2025 final? Royal Challengers Bengaluru opener's availability for Punjab Kings clash revealed

Royal Challengers Bengaluru's (RCB) star batsman Phil Salt is available for the Indian Premier League final (IPL) against the Punjab Kings, which is scheduled for 7:30 pm tonight, June 3.

According to multiple reports, the Welsh-born England batsman flew back home to be with his family as he and his partner were expecting a child. He has since landed in India on Tuesday morning.

Earlier, RCB fans were sweating on the availability of Salt, as the aggressive England opener missed the team's training session on the eve of the Indian Premier League (IPL) final at the Narendra Modi Stadium.

IPL 2025: Phil Salt key to RCB's fortunes

The England batsman has been instrumental in getting RCB to quick starts, and his opening partnership with Virat Kohli is the fastest opening pair for the franchise in the history of the T20 league.

The duo have scored 664 runs at an average of 47.42, and the run rate when they bat together is 10.29.

Phil Salt has been the key to the opening burst, having scored 387 runs at a strike rate of 175.9 this season. The strike rate is the fourth highest for an RCB batter who has faced at least 200 balls in a season.

The right-handed batsman was not at the ground on Monday, while the rest of the RCB players went through their paces during the training session.

Phil Salt back home?

While there were no reports of an injury, and players skipping practice sessions is not out of the ordinary, speculation was ripe Salt was not in India, which has since been confirmed.

There were no confirmed reports of Salt's situation until today, with Andy Flower famously tight-lipped on players' availability until the very end.

RCB fans would have been sweating at the prospect of a player as important as Salt missing out on the summit clash.

The Bengaluru side will appear in their fourth IPL final and are on the cusp of winning their first-ever title.

With Salt in the XI, they are favourites for winning the IPL 2025. 

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