Phil Salt revealed there were a 'few words' exchanged along with a bit of swearing during his verbal spat with Mohammed Siraj in the Indian Premier League (IPL) clash between Delhi Capitals (DC) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Saturday.
The England opener played a splendid innings of 87 off 45 balls, which included eight fours and six sixes, to guide DC to a comprehensive seven-wicket victory against RCB with 20 balls to spare, while chasing a target of 182.
However, tempers flared when Salt and Siraj got involved in a heated argument with the latter allegedly hurling a mouthful to the batsman.
What did Siraj say to Salt?
Reflecting on his duel with Siraj and his overall performance, Salt stated to reporters after the match, "I am very satisfied with the knock. Obviously, there was a little bit of a needle. Their boys were up for the last game when we were in Bangalore. So a lot of the pre-match chat was about really taking it to them, which I felt that we did really well. There were a few words and a bit of needle, but most blokes were up for it, certainly myself.
"I feel like if you take on a side’s best bowler a lot of the times and you win that particular battle, whether it’s the first over or any over that he bowls, the message that it sends back into the dugout is one of calm.“When that happens and you do it successfully, you see guys come out the way Mitch [Mitchell Marsh] did. Hit his second ball for six. You see Rilee [Rossouw] come out and bat like he’d already faced 30 balls. A sort of a method behind it."
Both captains, David Warner and Faf Du Plessis, along with the umpire stepped in to de-escalate the issue. As Siraj went back to his run-up, Du Plessis was seen having a chat with him to calm him down and patted on his back.
" Siraj was continuously swearing at me , I told him your team should have scored more runs mate "
— ` (@FourOverthrows) May 6, 2023
- Phil Salt ( post match) pic.twitter.com/Ww3xsYbq2u
Phil Salt vs Siraj tonight 🔥🔥pic.twitter.com/Hzb6GJs15X
— Utsav 💔 (@utsav045) May 6, 2023
All's well that ends well!
In a celebration of sporting spirit, both cricketers were later spotted hugging each other as the pacer also congratulated Salt for his innings and the victory.
Mohammad Siraj hugged Phil Salt and congratulated him on his knock.
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) May 6, 2023
Lovely to see! ♥️ pic.twitter.com/cTInT2Z928
