"He has all the talent in the world but he is wasting it" - Kevin Pietersen on Tom Banton
Former England batsman Kevin Pietersen has urged wicketkeeper-batsman Tom Banton to study how Indian stalwarts Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma go about their game in order to improve his batting in white-ball cricket.
Tom Banton has struggled for Welsh Fire in the inaugural edition of The Hundred, scoring 96 runs at an average of 13.71 in seven games. Pietersen underlined that the youngster is not doing enough justice to his talent.
Pietersen highlighted how the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Australian David Warner pace their innings at the top of the order. The 41-year-old urged Banton to learn from them as the pair take calculated risks in the initial overs before going for the big shots.
Speaking on Sky Sports, the South African-born cricketer said:
"He has all the talent but at the moment he is wasting it. He hits way too many balls in the air. He needs to learn to hit the ball along the ground, learn to hit extra-cover hard, mid-wicket hard. You have to look at the best players around the world. How often do they think, 'let me just hit it in the air, my release shot is a six'? Virat Kohli, David Warner - look at all the players starring at the top of the innings. They hit extra-cover on the ground for four. How often do you see Kohli hitting sixes all over at the start of his innings?"
Banton needs to ask himself what sort of player he wants to be: Kevin Pietersen
Kevin Pietersen further suggested that Rohit Sharma starts his innings cautiously, picking the gaps like few others do, before unleashing his shots consistently.
Pietersen conceded that no one wants to be remembered as a mediocre player and Banton needs to decide what sort of player he wishes to be. The former Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captain believes Banton could be doing a lot better.
"Rohit Sharma, for India or the Mumbai Indians in the IPL, is so calculated in the way he goes about his business. He can check drive, is immaculate with his pull shot and hits gaps like no one else in the world. He clips it through mid-wicket, bunts it down the ground. That where's consistency comes. It's about how you want to be remembered as a player. Do you want to be remembered as a player that slogs a few and gets out for 20 or 30? Banton need to ask himself what sort of player he wants to be. He is better than this."
With Tom Banton aggregating only 96 runs in seven innings in The Hundred thus far, Welsh Fire remains one of the most underperforming teams. They have managed only two wins from seven games and are placed only above the London Spirit.