Summary of this article
Phil Salt scored his first half-century of IPL 2026
He brought up his fifty in just 25 balls
He smashed 22 runs in one over of Mitchell Santner
Phil Salt delivered a batting masterclass at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday, smashing a blistering half-century to spearhead a dominant batting display during the high-stakes clash between Mumbai Indians (MI) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB).
The English opener’s aggressive approach provided the perfect foundation for RCB in the batting-friendly conditions of Mumbai.
Salt had a slow start to the IPL 2026 as he has looked out of touch so far. In the last match against RR, he scored a duck, getting beaten by the pace of Jofra Archer.
In contrast to that, Salt looked pro-active against Mumbai Indians. He waited to get the balls that he thinks he could dispatch and gradually build his rhythm. He teed off in the fourth over, when Hardik Pandya introduced Mitchell Santner to attack the two right handers.
Salt launched an assault to Santner, smashing him for three sixes in a row and a four to top it up. The 22-run over there, changed the momentum of the innings. Salt was particularly brutal against the spinners as he also did heavy damage to Mayank Markande.
Salt reached his fifty in a lightning-fast 25 balls, his fastest of the 2026 campaign. He hit 4 sixes and 4 boundaries on his way to the half-century.
While he shared a steady opening stand with Virat Kohli, it was Salt who shouldered the scoring burden, consistently taking risks to ensure RCB capitalized on the field restrictions.
His ability to manipulate the strike and find the fence against both elite pace and world-class spin proved to be the difference-maker in the first half of the innings.
Salt was eventually dismissed by Shardul Thakur on 78. He found the cover fielder after failing to judge the strategy of mixing wide yorkers with change of pace by the bowler.
Phil Salt has been part of two championship winning sides in the last two years and him returning to form will relieve RCB captain Rajat Patidar and the management.
