Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra has picked Phil Salt’s run-out as the massive turning point in Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s six wicket loss against Delhi Capitals at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru on Thursday.

Salt got off to a blistering start as he raced to 37 runs off just 17 balls but was run out when he and Virat Kohli were both left watching the ball. Kohli denied the quick single and Salt also slipped while trying to get back to his crease. RCB scored 61 runs in 3.5 overs but veered off the track after Salt’s dismissal, managing a sub-par score of 163 runs on the board.

“There was a massive turning point in this match. That was Phil Salt’s run-out. Phil Salt hit 30 runs in a Mitchell Starc over, a six off the first ball, then another six and fours. He was absolutely outstanding. He had shaken Starc up. They had reached 53 after three overs. However, then he got run out,” Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube Channel. 

The renowned commentator noted that RCB scored their runs at a slow speed after England batter’s wicket.

“When he got run out, suddenly it seemed someone had put a pin on a flying balloon, or had pulled the chain in a running bullet train because after that, you batted for 16 overs and scored only 100 runs. Just think how slow the road ahead became. Phil Salt was playing as if he was on a different pitch. That was, in my opinion, a huge turning point,” he observed.

The former KKR batter heaped praise on the spin duo of Vipraj Nigam and Kuldeep Yadav. Both the wrist spinners bagged two wickets apiece and conceded a total of 35 runs in eight overs they bowled.

“The second big story was wrist spin, whether it was Vipraj Nigam or Kuldeep Yadav. Just think about it, it’s a small ground. Of course, there was slight help for the spinners on this pitch, but Kuldeep Yadav and Vipraj Nigam showed that wrist spinners have a specialty, especially a wrist spinner who turns the ball and gives revolutions,” he said.

“The ball falls after making a parabola, and when you have a trajectory like that, you feel the ball would pitch slightly closer to you than it does. Half the time, you find that the ball remained away from you. We saw that with (Virat) Kohli as well. The same thing happened with Krunal Pandya, Rajat Patidar and Jitesh Sharma. Eight overs of wrist spin changed the game,” Chopra elaborated.

RCB will next take on Rajasthan Royals at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur on Sunday.