Michael Vaughan Suggests Tom Banton To Skip IPL, KKR Bowler Responds

Updated - 23 Jan 2020, 04:12 PM

Tom Banton, Azhar Ali, Batting
Tom Banton (Credits: Twitter)

The England fast bowler Harry Gurney responds to the suggestion made by Michael Vaughan to Tom Banton. Recently, Vaughan asked Tom Banton to skip IPL and concentrate on red-ball cricket to take a place in the Test team of England.

In response, Kolkata Knight Riders bowler Harry Gurney, who is a good friend of Tom Banton, expressed his opinion in two options. In the first option, he highlighted the pros of playing in IPL where Tom Banton gets the chance to rub shoulders with players like Eoin Morgan, Andre Russell and Brendon McCullum. He also highlighted the fact to play in front of 70,000 Crowd.

Rub shoulders and train with Morgan:

In the second option, he predicted Tom Banton to edge the ball to the keeper in 8-degree weather. He also pointed out the lack of spectators. The tweet went viral in the social media, as a section of people didn’t understand the way Harry Gurney wanted.

Michael Vaughan, Tom Banton, Kolkata Knight Riders, Harry Gurney
Harry Gurney. (Photo: IANS)

Gurney’s Twitter post read: “Option A: Rub shoulders and train with Morgan, Narine, Russell and Cummins on a daily basis. And potentially play in front of 70,000. Option B: Nick off to a medium pacer on a green one in 8 degrees in front of a few hundred pensioners.”

Banton was snapped up by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) for his base price of Rs 1 crore. But, Vaughan wants the youngster to play in the County Championship and make a claim for England’s Test team.

“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.

Also Read: Virat Kohli Confirms KL Rahul As Wicketkeeper For New Zealand T20Is, Prithvi Shaw Likely To Open In ODIs

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Harry Gurney Kolkata Knight Riders Michael Vaughan Tom Banton