IPL 2020: Rajasthan Royals Call Up George Garton for Four-day Trial

Rajasthan Royals, the inaugural IPL champions have called up Sussex pacer George Garton for a four-day trial before the highly-anticipated IPL 2020 auction which is scheduled to take place in Kolkata on December 19. Garton, 22, will start his trial on December 3.

The left-armer has got this opportunity on the back of an impressive T10 League campaign with Qalandars recently. He was the highest wicket-taker of the tournament with 13 scalps as well and can be a good choice for the IPL 2020.

“It’s obviously an amazing opportunity and I’m very grateful to be given the chance to go over there and show them what I can do,” George Garton was quoted as saying in a press release by Sussex. “The IPL is the biggest franchise T20 competition in the world so to have interest from a team like Rajasthan is a big confidence boost and I’m very excited to get out there.”

As far as IPL 2020 is concerned, BCCI is all set to consider one new franchise from next year and it will last at least until 2022. One of the major reasons behind this could be time as according to the earlier plan being the ICC future tours programme that might not be able to host 90 matches in a limited duration as a ten-team tournament’s league stage will require.

“Nine teams work well until a new FTP can fall in place (2023) and BCCI can introduce the 10th team,” a source close to the matter shared TOI.

Even, the board isn’t also sure about the current market situation. “There are buyers. That’s not the point. But are there enough buyers coming to the table where bidding can be a competitive process? For one franchise, yes. For two, let’s see,” the source further added.

The new venue in Ahmedabad which has a capacity of 1.1 lakh is to be ready and available next year by March and expected to be used in IPL 2020, according to the report.

“There will be takers, given the following for cricket in Ahmedabad and the resources available there. So, if a tender is brought out for one franchise right now, there’ll certainly be great amount of interest and will set a benchmark for the future,” it further read.