Watch: Virat Kohli stunned as Phil Salt smashes him on head; England star narrates incident

At the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, the players threw balls to the crowd in the stands as souvenirs. However, Salt hit Kohli on the side of the head by mistake with one of the balls. Virat Kohli was left shocked after being hit and looked for the player who had hit the ball.

When he found out that it was none other than Phil Salt, both of them got involved in a banter and hugged each other. Both the players continued to take a lap across the ground to thank the crowd for their immense support.

Phil Salt narrates the incident

We sense the banter between Virat and Salt is only going to get better as the season goes on! 😁#PlayBold #ನಮ್ಮRCB #RCBUnbox pic.twitter.com/YhcV3U15lL

— Royal Challengers Bengaluru (@RCBTweets) March 17, 2025

After the incident, Phil Salt shared the details and claimed that Virat Kohli was looking for him after being hit on the head. Salt even claimed that someone in the team pointed the finger towards him which prompted Kohli to go after him.

The England wicketkeeper-batter claimed to be running away from the spot after finding out that he had been caught but Kohli reached there in no time giving him hardly any space to escape.

“I just saw Virat (Kohli) in my eye-line. And honestly, I just got him so nicely in the side of the head. He literally got whiplashed looking around for me. And… I don’t know who was pointing at me, he thought it was someone else and then his eyes turned to me and he looked serious,” Salt mentioned.

“I wasn’t sticking around! I tried to get straight out of there but he was on me in no time at all. If there’s footage of that, it’ll be very, very funny,” the wicketkeeper-batter said in the video shared by RCB.

Virat Kohli excited to play in IPL 2025

RCB organised an unbox event just days before the start of IPL 2025. The players enjoyed the music event that had the crowd grooving. Virat Kohli praised the team’s squad and expressed his excitement.

“It feels amazing to be back to this amazing city, amazing fans, and the excitement and happiness like every other season is high. I’ve been here for 18 years, and I absolutely love it,” Kohli said.

“We have an amazing squad this time around, and a lot of talent. I’m personally very excited to get going for the season ahead,” the 36-year-old added.

Phil Salt IPL 2025 price

Phil Salt played for Kolkata Knight Riders last year but was signed by Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the IPL 2025 mega auction for INR 11.50 crore. The wicketkeeper-batter had a fantastic season last year and played a key role in taking KKR to the title win.

Meanwhile, Virat Kohli was retained by RCB ahead of the IPL 2025 auction for INR 21 crore. The talismanic batter has retired from the T20I format but still continues to play in the IPL for his beloved franchise.