Tom Banton Looking To Skip IPL 2021 In Order To Hone His Red-Ball Skills In County Cricket

Dynamic young England batsman Tom Banton has signaled that he might skip this year’s IPL in a bid to hone his skills in the longest format of the game by playing County cricket for Somerset.

Hailed as the next big thing in English cricket following his exploits in the 2019 T20 Blast, Tom Banton was picked up by the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL auction later that year.

However, it turned out to be a less than eventful season for Banton as he consigned to the bench for the majority of the 13th season. He got just two opportunities, in which he managed a mere 18 runs.

Speaking to Sky Sports, Tom Banton said that while loves the IPL, he is at that stage of his career where he’d rather be on the park playing than warming the bench.

“Growing up as a kid the IPL was a tournament that I absolutely loved watching. But I feel like I’m at a stage now where I need to be playing cricket instead of sitting on the bench,” Tom Banton was quoted as saying by ‘Sky Sports’.

“The last year has taught me quite a bit, obviously all these tournaments are great but a lot of them I’ve been sat on the sidelines and not really doing a huge amount. I miss batting and playing cricket if I’m being honest,” he added.

Banton further added that becoming a top-quality Test batsman for England still remains his ultimate dream and he is looking forward to honing his red-ball skills and further his case for a possible spot in the national side by playing county games for Somerset.

“I feel at this point in my career it’s probably best if I play a few red-ball games for Somerset and get back into that because I do miss playing red-ball cricket and my ambition is still to play Test cricket,” he said.

“We’ll have to wait and see. I still haven’t decided yet, but I’m just going to speak to a few people and try to decide from there.” Tom Banton added.

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