Kolkata Knight Riders batter Phil Salt has showered praise on mentor Gautam Gambhir, stating he is a very committed and passionate guy. Gambhir led KKR to two IPL titles in 2012 and 2014 and returned to the franchise as a mentor ahead of IPL 2024.

The former KKR captain is known to take the bull by its horns and he will look to get the best out of his players along with head coach Chandrakant Pandit. On the other hand, Phil Salt was named Jason Roy’s replacement as the latter pulled out of the upcoming IPL due to personal reasons.

“KKR is a brilliant franchise. Gautam Gambhir and Chandrakant Pandit have made it very clear about how we play, how we do everything. [Gambhir] He is very clear. He is a very, very committed and passionate guy. We had fun last night with the teammates as well,” said Salt while speaking to India Today.

Salt impressed in his maiden IPL season last year, scoring 218 runs at an average of more than 27 and a strike rate of 163.91 in nine matches. The right-hander has been in rich form in the recent past, smashing two centuries for England in the last three matches.

On the other hand, Salt admitted that Mumbai Indians’ talisman batter Suryakumar Yadav is one of the toughest to face in the T20 format.

“SKY (Suryakumar Yadav) is one of the toughest opponents to face, and the toughest bowlers are Sunil Narine and Varun Chakaravarthy. I have faced them in our practice match. They have a lot of tricks,” said Salt.

Salt also commented on KKR owner Shahrukh Khan, “I’ve heard of Shahrukh Khan before. He is a big star and I have heard of him. I have gone through OTT platforms for his movies.”

KKR will begin their campaign against Sunrisers Hyderabad at Eden Gardens, Kolkata on March 23.