Two-time Indian Premier League (IPL) winning team the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) has decided to bring on England’s Jason Roy as the foreign replacement for Shakib Al Hasan, who is one of two KKR players missing the ongoing season of the cash-rich league, the tournament's website announced on Wednesday, April 5.
The side will be without their regular skipper Shreyas Iyer as well, with the Team India batter suffering from a recurring back injury. Meanwhile, Jason has been brought into the squad 'for a price of Rs 2.8 crore from his base price of Rs 1.5 crore, according to the official press release.
"Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have signed England’s Jason Roy for INR 2.8 crore for the TATA IPL 2023 from his base price of INR 1.5 crore. Shreyas Iyer has been ruled out of the tournament owing to a lower back injury while Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan has confirmed his unavailability for the season."
"Roy, who earlier featured in the 2017 and 2018 seasons, last played in the 2021 season for Sunrisers Hyderabad. In 2021, he played five games, scoring 150 runs including a half-century. The 32-year-old has played 64 T20Is for England, scoring 1522 runs at a S/R of 137.61 with 8 fifties" the release added.
Roy was signed for his base price of Rs 2 Crores by the Gujarat Titans (GT) in IPL 2022 but pulled out of the tournament. Ironically, he was replaced by Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who was brought in by KKR for IPL 2023 during the mini-auction in December.
Roy has played 13 matches in his IPL career to date, scoring 329 runs, and averaging 29.90 as well. He has hit two half-centuries, including a brilliant unbeaten 91 runs on his IPL debut for the erstwhile Delhi Daredevils. In total, Jason Roy has hit 39 fours and 9 sixes in his IPL career.
More recently, he smashed an unbeaten 143 runs for the Quetta Gladiators in the Pakistan Super League. His presence is sure to shore up the batting of the Kolkata-based outfit, which looked spineless with the bat in their opening match of the campaign against the Punjab Kings (PBKS).
READ ALSO:
IPL 2023 Purple Cap: Mark Wood continues to lead the pack, Rashid Khan storms into the top three
