Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], April 5 (ANI): Kolkata Knight Riders on Wednesday announced English batter Jason Roy will join the Indian Premier League (IPL) for the current season.
Roy has been brought in after Shreyas Iyer was ruled out of the League due to a lower back injury. Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan is also not playing this season for the Shahrukh Khan-owed team.
“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,” IPL said in a statement today.
Roy who featured in IPL 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 strike rate of 137.61 with 8 fifties.
Roy is considered to be one of the most dangerous T20I opening batters and he could provide the explosiveness that KKR needs during the powerplay.
KKR lost their opening match against PBKS by 7 runs (DLS method), Roy’s presence in that match could have certainly changed the dimension of that game. In the chase of 192, KKR was off to a poor start. Pacer Arshdeep Singh shook Kolkata’s batting line-up by giving them a double blow. He dismissed Mandeep Singh (2) and Anukul Roy (4) for cheap, reducing KKR to 17/2 in 2 overs. Roy’s job would be to not let KKR fall in such situations.
KKR will be back in action against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Thursday at their home ground Eden Gardens. (ANI)
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