Phil Salt unlikely to join England's squad for the last two T20Is

England batter Phil Salt was released from the England white-ball squad to represent Lancashire in the T20 Blast quarterfinal against Essex on Friday evening.

Before Lancashire released him to represent England in the ODI series against the Netherlands, Salt amassed 317 runs in eleven innings in the T20 Blast. 

The dynamic keeper-batter instantly impressed the cricket fraternity as he emerged as England's joint top scorer against the Dutch, with 248 runs at a phenomenal average of 82.67. 

Such impressive returns earned him a call-up to the national squad for the limited-overs fixtures against India.   

Notably, the top-order Lancashire batter didn't play the first T20I of the three-match series on Thursday as England decided to go with their first-choice openers, Jos Buttler and Jason Roy. 

England are unlikely to change their opening combination in the last two T20Is, given they're trailing by 1-0 in the series. So, they decided to release Salt ahead of Lancashire's knockout fixtures in the English domestic league. 

It's doubtful that Salt will rejoin the squad as the last two T20Is will be played on two consecutive days in Birmingham and Nottingham, respectively.

Talking about the game, Lancashire defeated Essex comprehensively by seven wickets riding on half-centuries from Steve Croft and Dane Vilas. Salt smashed 27 runs off 21 deliveries, opening for the Manchester-based club. 

To note, Lancashire's five contracted players alongside Salt are Jos Buttler, Liam Livingstone, Matt Parkinson and Richard Gleeson; all of them are part of England's T20I squad, but none of them was given leave as three of them took part in the first T20I. 

The uncapped allrounder Richard Gleeson was also not released for the quarterfinal of the T20 Blast, which indicates he might make his debut in the second T20I to be played tonight.