Image Credit- AFP
After Phil Salt did not sell at the 2024 mini auction,
he called his exclusion from the IPL “confusing”.
After an impressive debut season with the Delhi
Capitals, when he averaged 27.25 with a strike-rate of 163.91, Salt was
predicted to be in high demand. However, the England opener was not sold
despite having a basic price of 1.5 crore.
“It was a confusing morning,” Salt said in
the moments after he’d scored a second consecutive T20I hundred for England
against the West Indies. “I expected to be picked up, having gone there
last year and done well and after the year that I’ve had, but these things
happen. It’s part of the lottery of an auction, it happens in draft processes
as well. There’s a few lads in our dressing room who are going to have a very
good Christmas and I’m over the moon for them.
“I was a bit confused but it can happen. There’s
no bad cricketers on the list at the IPL. It’s one of those things.”
The England opener, whose agent was texting him to
keep him informed of developments, had deliberately slept in late to avoid
missing as much of the auction as possible. Given Salt’s recent form on the
international front, where he has scored back-to-back hundreds for England, who
have won two straight to draw their five-match series against the West Indies
at two apiece, the timing of his omission seems especially strange. Salt had
not made a professional T20 hundred until four days ago; since then, he has
made two.
“It was probably a little bit of it,
subconsciously” Salt said of whether his IPL snub had motivated his
innings of 119 today. “I’m very aware of how lucky I am to be here playing
cricket.
“I’m playing good cricket, I’m doing what I came
out here to do. More importantly than that, the boys have really pulled
together and shown what a good team we are. The West Indies are a very good
side that we’re playing against so to win back-to-back games and force the
decider in a couple of days’ time, I’m chuffed.”