IPL 2020: Michael Vaughan urges KKR star Tom Banton to abandon ₹1 crore contract

England cricketer Tom Banton has seemingly come out of nowhere and made a name for himself in the sport even before making his international debut for the country. Banton, who is a wicketkeeper-batsman, has displayed some exceptional hitting skills that have made T20 franchises around the world applaud his talent. Last December, Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) bid successfully for Banton at the auction to be a part of the team in IPL 2020. However, former England skipper Michael Vaughan is not a fan of this development and here is why.

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Michael Vaughan has surprising advice for Tom Banton on IPL

Writing in his column for the Telegraph Sport, former England skipper Michael Vaughan prophecised that Tom Banton could break into the English Test side if he lets go of his IPL contract and chooses to play county cricket instead. Banton, who plays for Somerset, will be missing a few matches for his county side while he plays the IPL for the Knight Riders in April and May. Vaughan implied that English newcomer Ollie Pope will soon be moving up the order and a batsman will be required to fill the number six slot. According to the former England captain, if Banton proves himself in county cricket, he can very easily make his way into the English Test setup. A positive Vaughan even went forward to claim that it would not be totally ridiculous to see Banton wear the Test cap before the end of this year. 

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KKR field a strong lineup for IPL 2020

Two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders made sure that they got a very strong set of players when they entered the 2020 IPL Auctions. The highlight of their auction was the purchase of Australia's Test vice-captain Pat Cummins for a massive sum of INR 15.5 crores. Other purchases that KKR made included England white-ball skipper Eoin Morgan and young superstar Tom Banton. Here is KKR's full squad for IPL 2020.

1. Dinesh Karthik (captain)
2. Shivam Mavi
3. Sandeep Warrier
4. Kuldeep Yadav
5. Eoin Morgan
6. Pat Cummins
7. Harry Gurney
8. Sunil Narine
9. Nikhil Naik
10. M Siddharth
11. Andre Russell
12. Lockie Ferguson
13. Prasidh Krishna
14. Shubman Gill
15. Nitish Rana
16. Siddhesh Lad
17. Kamlesh Nagarkoti
18. Rinku Singh
19. Varun Chakravarthy
20. Tom Banton
21. Pravin Tambe
22. Chris Green
23. Rahul Tripathi

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