Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], March 24 (ANI): Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) director of cricket Mo Bobat backed the out-of-form England batter Phil Salt ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 season, stressing that he looks forward to watching him open the innings for the defending champions alongside Virat Kohli.

Phil Salt had a wonderful run with RCB in their maiden title-win. The right-handed batter scored 403 runs in 13 innings, with an average of 33.58. However, the Englishman struggled big time in the recent ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026, scoring only 130 runs in eight matches at an average of 16.25.

Asked whether there's any concern around Salt's form heading into the IPL 2026, RCB's director of cricket, Mo Bobat, said the team has a strong, experienced squad of international players and emphasised that Salt remains one of the top-ranked T20 batters in the world.

Salt is currently ranked fourth in the ICC Men's T20I rankings.

'Well, those aren't concerns for me. We've got a high-quality squad, and as we saw last year, our strongest team that we put out most of the time is full of predominantly guys who are playing or have played international cricket. So, these guys are seasoned professionals. They know what they're doing. Someone like Phil Salt is still ranked in one of the top T20 batters in the world,' Mo Bobat said at RCB's pre-season press conference on Tuesday.

'I'm looking forward to watching him and Virat walk out to bat like they do. Couple of gladiators walking out, which is always exciting. And they'll be trying to put the opposition under pressure. We've got a lot of confidence in our team. Huge amount of confidence in Phil Salt and I'm sure he'll go out there and do his thing,' Mo Bobat added.

Mo Bobat said Phil Salt enjoys his partnership with Virat.

'So there's enough depth of confidence there. He also really enjoys being with RCB. He enjoys the franchise. He enjoys his partnership with Virat. He works very well with the likes of Andy and DK. So they're doing some really good work right now. And I'm pretty sure we'll see at the start of the season Phil doing his thing,' Mo Bobat said.

Defending champions RCB will kick off their title defence against Sunrisers Hyderabad on March 28 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. (ANI)