IPL 2025: RCB likely to miss an in-form batter vs PBKS in the final

According to the reports published on ESPNCricinfo, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) overseas opener Phil Salt is likely to miss the grand finale against the Punjab Kings at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Tuesday, June 3.

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Moving into the details of the news, Salt is expecting the birth of his child and he wasn’t part of the RCB training sessions ahead of the IPL 2025 Final in Ahmedabad, which triggered the rumours over his absence for the much-awaited clash.

However, RCB coach Andy Flower and captain Rajat Patidar didn’t utter a single word on Salt’s availability, maintaining secrecy on the overall situation, as per the report published on ESPNCricinfo.

To make things more interesting, Salt wasn't the only player to miss the practice session, as a few other RCB stars also opted not to take part in these sessions. However, at the moment, it’s completely unclear on his availability for the summit clash.

Shifting our focus to the stats, Salt has amassed 387 runs for RCB this season in 12 matches, at a strike-rate of 175.90 and an average of 35.18. With Jacob Bethell already returning home for international duties against the West Indies the Bengaluru franchise might face a few issues if Salt doesn’t make it to the XI.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru Probable XI: 1 Phil Salt (Doubtful), 2 Virat Kohli, 3 Mayank Agarwal, 4 Rajat Patidar (c), 5 Liam Livingstone/Tim David, 6 Jitesh Sharma (wk), 7 Romario Shepherd, 8 Krunal Pandya, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Yash Dayal, 11 Josh Hazlewood, 12 Suyash Sharma.

Punjab Kings Probable XI:1 Priyansh Arya, 2 Prabhsimran Singh, 3 Josh Inglis (wk), 4 Shreyas Iyer (c), 5 Nehal Wadhera, 6 Shashank Singh, 7 Marcus Stoinis, 8 Azmatullah Omarzai, 9 Vijaykumar Vyshak, 10 Kyle Jamieson, 11 Arshdeep Singh, 12 Yuzvendra Chahal/Harpreet Brar.

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