KKR had retention rights on Salt before the auction, but opted to keep hold of six other players instead. “There wasn’t a whole heap of chat around retention,” Salt told ESPNcricinfo. “I feel like, having just won the IPL, they probably had the hardest job of all the franchises, figuring out which direction they were trying to go in with their retentions, so I just sort of left them to it.”
They entered a bidding war with RCB, but after spending INR 23.75 crore to bring Venkatesh Iyer back, found themselves pulling out. “As you saw, they went hard to try and bring me back,” Salt said. “But with the way the auction went for the different teams up to that point, maybe there wasn’t enough money in the room.”
He looks like a natural fit for a franchise associated with fearless batting, and recalls watching Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers playing for them as a teenager. “They’ve got a very clear way of playing the game which is to go out and attack,” Salt said. “They’ve always had the fiery personalities and their batting line-ups have been world-class.
“They’re one of a few teams who, when I was watching IPL years ago, if they were playing, I’d turn the TV on. Obviously they’ve got Andy there and Mo Bobat [as director of cricket], and I’m really looking forward to playing under them. Having been around them a little bit, I know that we’re quite similar thinkers on the game in some ways – and their track record speaks for itself.”
Salt followed the auction from the United Arab Emirates, where he is playing for – and captaining – Team Abu Dhabi in the Abu Dhabi T10. “It was pretty cool,” he said. “Obviously it feels like a long way away at the minute, but I’m very, very excited for it.”
“It’s been said before that you don’t have to play a load of red-ball cricket to make a case,” Salt said. “But I’m pretty content with where I’m at, at the minute… It is tricky. I’d have liked to play more. I’d like to play all formats, but the way that the schedule is at the minute for me, that’s not the easiest thing to do.”
