Kolkata Knight Riders Sign Jason Roy To Replace Shreyas Iyer For IPL 2023 Season

Two-time Indian Premier League (IPL) champions Kolkata Knight Riders have signed up England opener Jason Roy for Rs 2.8 crore for the IPL 2023 season, from his base price of Rs 1.5 crore. KKR have lost the services of their skipper Shreyas Iyer due to lower-back injury and Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib al Hasan has also pulled out of the league.

“Shreyas Iyer has been ruled out of the tournament while Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan has confirmed his unavailability for the season,” an IPL statement read on Wednesday.

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.

_ NEWS _@KKRiders sign Jason Roy.

Details _ #TATAIPLhttps://t.co/ITiAoWl6R2

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 5, 2023

According to Cricbuzz website, the Bangladesh all-rounder has formally informed the KKR of his unavailability for the IPL 2023 season. “International commitments and personal issues are believed to have been cited as the reasons for his absence for the league, which is in its first week,” Cricbuzz reported.

Apart from Shakib, Bangladesh wicketkeeper Litton Das will also not be available before April 10 as he is part of the national squad taking part in the ongoing one-off Test against Ireland.

Meanwhile, KKR skipper Iyer’s injury is an impinged nerve caused by a bulged disc in the lower back area on the right side. He has been struggling with the injury since returning from the Bangladesh series in December 2022. Despite taking about six injections, Iyer continued to experience discomfort which ruled him out of the white-ball series against Sri Lanka in January and the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia in February. However, he returned to play the following two Tests of the Australia series but did not bat in the first innings of the final Test in Ahmedabad and was eventually ruled out of the match.

Shah Rukh Khan-owned KKR replaced Iyer with Nitish Rana as the captain for the IPL 2023 season. KKR started with a defeat at the hands of Punjab Kings in their opening match of the season in Mohali.

Nitish Rana’s side will next take on Royal Challengers Bangalore at the iconic Eden Gardens stadium in Kolkata on Thursday. Roy has turned out in 64 T20I for England and has a strike-rate of 137.61. In ODI cricket, Jason Roy has 116 games under his belt with an average of 39.91 and a strike-rate of over 105.