Royal Challengers Bengaluru were defeated by Sunrisers Hyderabad in Match 66 of the Indian Premier League 2025, held at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Stadium in Lucknow. RCB, who have already qualified for the Playoffs, would have increased their chances of finishing in the top two, but with one more league stage game remaining, there will be tough rivalry for first and second place, respectively.
Phil Salt, RCB’s wicketkeeper-batsman who opened alongside Virat Kohli, contributed to the team’s flawless start as they chased a 232-run mark. The duo scored 80 runs in just seven overs, but Virat was bowled by Harsh Dubey, and the Rajat Patidar-led batting unit’s demise began. Salt gave it his all, scoring 62 off 32 balls, but the lack of support from the other end meant RCB finished 42 runs short at the end.
Salt opened up after the loss, saying that while he is disappointed to be on the losing side, he does not mind losing a league stage game rather than one in the playoffs. Salt, who is determined to win the trophy for RCB, stated that there are other perspectives on the setback, and that he sees it as a constructive development.
“That’s one way to look at it. Another way to look at it is that you don’t mind if this game isn’t in the playoffs. You can either be disappointed or accept it for what it is. We qualified, but lost the game. Nobody likes losing cricket matches. “I’m hating the fact that we lost, as will everyone else in an RCB shirt, but we’d rather have this now than in an Eliminator,” stated Salt following the loss to SRH.
“We did a lot of wonderful things while tracking it down. Obviously, by 15 overs, everyone in our dressing room believed we were going to win the game. Obviously, the margins are usually fine, but tonight’s margins for failure were extremely fine. You hit an over of 20 at the time, which went a long way towards icing the game. Cricket may be like that sometimes. “We’ll look at what we did well and where we can improve,” the Englishman said.
In the Playoffs, you’ve got to play in a carefree manner: Phil Salt
The stumper-batter further said after a team has qualified for the Playoffs, the goal for all the players is simple and clear – to play in the best interest of the team.
“I can’t sit here and tell you that we prefer to finish first, second, third or fourth. We’ve qualified for the playoffs, and once you’re in the playoffs, you’ve got to go and play in a carefree manner and do what you can to win the trophy. We’re not too far ahead of ourselves at the moment with that thinking. In a few days, we’ll be playing here again against Lucknow in a game that we want to win and show everyone how good we are. It’s pretty simple, pretty straightforward, we’re just looking at the next game,” he further said.
Phil Salt, who had to miss a few games earlier in the season owing to illness, feels that he is glad to be healthy back again, and even happier that the tournament could resume soon after facing a short little suspension following the execution of Operation Sindoor by the Indian government.
“It’s a funny one. When you’re ill, you sit on the bed and wonder if you’re ever going to feel better again. You think of all those things you took for granted when you were healthy and all that sort of stuff. As a group, we hadn’t played cricket for three weeks, and I don’t think I played in a month, which is a long time. More than anything else, I’m just glad that I’m healthy and playing another game of cricket,” the RCB cricketer concluded.
India
