Tom Banton, England’s opening batsman has said that he is thrilled to share a dressing room with West Indian Andre Russell for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 which will be played in the UAE from September 19-November 10 across three venues — Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah.
Tom Banton who is just 21 years of age may not feature in any match at IPL due to his inexperience as he had played only 3 T20Is and 6 ODIs for England where he has scored an only one half-century but will come in contact with experienced stalwarts of cricket like Andre Russell, Eoin Morgan, Sunil Narine, Pat Cummins, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson in KKR dugout from whom he will learn a lot.
source: Google
Tom Banton Excited To Play Alongside Pat Cummins And Andre Russell
Tom Banton was purchased by KKR for INR 1 crore, in the players’ auction which was held in December 2019.
“I am particularly excited to play alongside Andre Russell and Pat Cummins. I watched Andre last year, and he played really well. Learning from someone like him will be really cool,” the official website of KKR quoted Banton as saying.
Andre Russell has been a member of KKR from 2014 and has given the team wins from many impossible and crunch situations with his sublime batting prowess. He has played occasionally for national team West Indies and has not performed up to the mark for West Indies, but his performance for KKR and global T20 teams have been extraordinary.
In 64 matches he has notched up 1400 runs averaging 33.33 and his strike rate of 186.42 is one of the highest ever in IPL history. He has also picked up 55 wickets averaging only 27.96 which is phenomenal.
Australian pacer Pat Cummins has played 30 Tests,64 ODIs and 28 T20Is where he has taken 143,105 and 36 wickets respectively averaging less than 28 across all formats which are creditable for a bowler. Like Eoin Morgan, he has played for KKR previously in 2014 and 2015 seasons.
Recently, Tom Banton played alongside England skipper Eoin Morgan in England’s three-match ODI series against Ireland. Both the batsmen will play for KKR in the upcoming IPL.
Tom Banton Praises England Captain Eoin Morgan For Being Positive
Eoin Morgan will not be his captain at Knight Riders as Dinesh Karthik of India would be leading the franchise. But he was full of praise for Eoin Morgan who has helped England to lift their maiden World Cup in 2019.
“Morgan is an extremely positive person, no matter what. It’s nice to have him in the team, as he bats for his team. He has been playing for a long time and has a lot of experience. I remember my first match for England, I got out playing a shot. He came up to me and said ‘you don’t need to change what you are currently doing.’ It was really nice to hear that,” Banton said.
Eoin Morgan had previously represented Ireland from 2006 to 2009 and has played before for Kolkata Knight Riders in 2011-2013. He is a One-day white-ball specialist, having played in 239 one-dayers where he has scored 7510 runs averaging 39.73 and has 14 centuries to his name.
All eight IPL franchises have already reached UAE to participate in the upcoming tournament.
All members of the eight franchise will undergo a six-day isolation period after landing in the UAE besides being tested for Covid-19 thrice. The players can resume training in the UAE only if found negative on all three occasions.
The final match of the 2020 edition is planned to be played on a weekday Tuesday, for the first time in the history of the T20 tournament. Both the afternoon and evening matches in the 10 doubleheaders will be started half-an-hour earlier than usual.