‘Should give up IPL deal’: Vaughan asks KKR’s explosive new recruit to skip IPL
He was snapped up by Kolkata Knight Riders for the upcoming season for his base price of Rs 1 crore in the IPL 2020 auction held in Kolkata.
Young England batsman Tom Banton is one of the most exciting stars in the T20 circuit and has already wowed spectators and pundits with his exploits in England (Somerset) and now in Australia in the ongoing Big Bash League. He was snapped up by Kolkata Knight Riders for the upcoming season for his base price of Rs 1 crore in the IPL 2020 auction held in Kolkata. However, now former England captain Michael Vaughan has asked the England board to withdraw the young star from the upcoming IPL season so that he could play in the County Championship and press claims for England’s Test team.
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‘If I were in charge I would be on the phone this week to Tom Banton telling him to give up his IPL deal and play the first few weeks of the county season for Somerset because there is a slot available at No 6 in the Test side,’ Vaughan wrote in a column for Telegraph Sport.
‘I have seen enough of Banton to know he is a superstar in the making. I’m not sure a stint in the IPL right now, when he might not get a lot of game time, is what he needs at this stage of his career.
‘The IPL can wait. He has plenty of time to go to India. He needs to play four-day cricket and score some early hundreds,’ Vaughan further wrote.
Vaughan seems to be convinced that the young man has enough talent and pedigree to warrant a Test spot and bolster England’s batting order.
‘Then England would have a top order of Rory Burns, Sibley or Crawley, Pope, Root, Stokes, Banton and a keeper at seven, probably Ben Foakes. All of a sudden that looks a pretty decent line up,’ he went on to write.
