It’s all about playoffs – Phil Salt reveals Virat Kohli’s retirement hasn’t been discussed in RCB dressing room

Royal Challengers Bengaluru opener Phil Salt has revealed that their entire focus is on reaching the playoff stages of the ongoing IPL 2025 and Virat Kohli’s retirement decision hasn’t been discussed in the dressing room.

Kohli announced his Test retirement on Monday and IPL 2025 is all set to resume on Saturday, with RCB taking on defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders at Bengaluru. 

Kohli has been in fantastic form in IPL 2025, scoring 505 runs in 11 matches of the tournament at an average of 63.13 and a strike rate of 143.47. Thus, Kohli would look to carry the same form in the rest of the competition.

“We have not spoken much about it, and Virat certainly won’t be wanting people to speak about that. It is all about playoffs and how we finish the group stage, that has been our focus, and it has not been a conversation piece, but we are very very aware of it,” Salt told the broadcasters in a pre-match interaction.

Meanwhile, to honour Virat Kohli, all RCB fans turned up in stadium, wearing white jerseys. 

“There’s a sea of people here at the Chinnaswamy, you see it when you come through, we got unbelievable home support here. Every game we have that must-win mentality. It’s pretty infectious what comes from the fan base. It’s a case of winning three more in the group stages and see where we end up from there,” Salt said.

Phil Salt will be available for RCB for the remainder of the IPL as he hasn’t been picked in England’s white-ball squad for the series against the West Indies. 

RCB is in second place in the standings with eight wins in 11 games, and a total of 16 points.