IPL 2023: 3 Teams Who Can Target Tom Banton In The IPL Auction

IPL 2023: 3 Teams Who Can Target Tom Banton In The IPL Auction. England batter Tom Banton skipped IPL 2021 and 2022. He played his only IPL season in 2020 for the Kolkata Knight Riders. Tom Banton is currently one of the top T20 batters in the world. It should not be a surprise if the IPL franchises show interest in his services on December 23.

21 players including Tom Banton have each set their base price in this IPL 2023 auction at INR 2 crores which is the highest base price band. Tom Banton had played only 2 games for KKR in IPL 2020 and scored 18 runs averaging 9 at a strike rate of 90.

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Tom Banton has featured in 6 ODIs and 14 T20Is for England and averages 26.8 and 23.35 in the respective formats. In 98 T20s, he has scored 2166 runs averaging 23.04 at a strike rate of 142.5 which includes 2 tons and 12 fifties.

Tom Banton was purchased by KKR for INR 1 crore, in the players’ auction for IPL 2020 which was held in December 2019. This time, he has set his base price to INR 2 crores.

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IPL 2023: 3 Teams Who Can Target Tom Banton In The IPL Auction

1. Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH)

Sunrisers Hyderabad released their captain Kane Williamson along with 11 other players and will head into IPL 2023 auction with the highest purse of INR 42.25 Crore. They don’t have many designated openers in the squad and hence may target Tom Banton. He may open alongside Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram, Rahul Tripathi, or Glenn Phillips.

2. Punjab Kings (PBKS)

Punjab Kings have let go of their IPL 2022 skipper Mayank Agarwal and replaced him with veteran opener Shikhar Dhawan. They also don’t have an overseas keeper who can bat in the top order or open and hence may target Tom Banton in IPL 2023.

For this year’s auctions, the Punjab Kings team has a budget of INR 32.2 Crores. The remaining slots in the team for Indian players are 9 and there are 3 slots left for overseas players.

3. Lucknow Super Giants (LSG)

The new entrants Lucknow Super Giants and Gujarat Titans have only 1 overseas keeper and opener in the likes of Quinton de Kock and Matthew Wade respectively. The two franchises may target Tom Banton in the IPL 2023 auctions.

Gujarat Titans have an INR 19.25 Crore purse left and has to fill 3 overseas slots in 7 available slots while Lucknow Super Giants has an INR 23.35 crore purse left and has to fill 4 overseas slots in 10 available slots. Hence, Lucknow may bid for Tom Banton. They also don’t boast many openers apart from skipper KL Rahul and keeper Quinton de Kock.

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