England cricket team batter Phil Salt continued his tremendous run of form as he slammed West Indies bowler Romario Shepherd for 30 runs in an over to guide his side to victory in their T20 World Cup 2024 Super 8 match on Thursday. Chasing a target of 181, Salt's unbeaten 87 proved to be the deciding factor in the encounter. During the 16th over of the match, Salt, who played for Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, showcased his explosive batting as he smashed Shepherd for 3 fours and 3 sixes, scoring 30 runs in just 6 balls.
Salt began the over with a boundary through extra cover to bring up his half-century, followed by a six straight down the ground. The next ball was a slower one, but Salt read it early and dispatched it for another four. Shepherd struggled to maintain his line and length under pressure, resulting in a wide delivery outside the off-stump that Salt sent over long-off for six. The fifth delivery also went for six, sailing over a backward square leg. The final ball of the over was a full toss, which Salt effortlessly hit over the wide mid-off fielder for another four.
England went on to win the match by 2 wickets. After the match, England skipper Jos Buttler praised Salt for his destructive batting in such an important match.
"That's a really good performance from us, we executed well with both bat and ball. I thought we bowled really well to restrict such a powerful batting line-up, still, we had to chase it down, but smart play from us. The partnership between Salt and Bairstow was great. I brought Jof back there, Pooran and Russell coming in, two of the best batters in the world, so we brought our best bowler back in. (Adil Rashid) He's a really important player, he has got so many variations and restricts runs. He batted at No. 4 today, he is a class player, and we have decided to keep backing our class players. It was an incredible inning, a mature senior player's inning, he batted with a lot of power. A lot of people say you learn when you lose, but I also feel you learn when you win, important to reflect on our performance and look back at what worked for us and focus on the next game," Buttler said at the post-match presentation.