Royal Challengers Bangalore – Tom Banton
Royal Challengers Bangalore depends heavily on the shoulders of their skipper Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers. We have seen that RCB’s batting order mainly rests on these two potent pillars. If one of them shakes up, the team trembles. The Bangalore side need a batsman who can take off some pressure of these two talisman batsmen shoulders while batting at the top of the order. England’s prodigy batsman Tom Banton has the skills to put paid RCB’s woes.
The 20-year old talented batsman from Somerset was able to hit the ground running in the Vitality T20 Blast. The right-hander scored 549 runs (second highest in T20 Blast 2019) in the 14 matches of the tourney at an average of 42.23. However, what was more pleasing to note that he scored his runs at a blistering strike rate of 161.47. The youngster scored one century and four fifties in the competition.
Moreover, Big Bash League’s club Brisbane Heat has also signed Tom Banton for the ninth edition. Hence, the young player will also have the experience of playing in the BBL before he can make his IPL debut.
RCB had retained only two overseas players in AB de Villiers and Moeen Ali and they would like to rope in a hard-hitter like Tom Banton to strengthen their batting.
Parthiv Patel and Tom Banton can open the innings for Royal Challengers Bangalore with Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers to follow and they will also have the advantage of right and left-hand combination.