Jason Roy replacement IPL 2022: Why Jason Roy not playing IPL 2022?

Jason Roy replacement: The English batter has become the first player to pull out of Indian Premier League 2022.

England batter Jason Roy pulling out of the upcoming 15th season of the Indian Premier League has put forward a concern for his franchise Gujarat Titans.

Set to play their maiden season in the IPL, Titans had acquired Roy’s services for his base price of INR 2 crore during the mega auction held in Bengaluru last month. Only Englishman in the squad, Roy was part of a 23-member squad which comprised of seven other overseas players namely Rashid Khan, David Miller, Matthew Wade, Dominic Drakes, Lockie Ferguson, Alzarri Joseph and Noor Ahmad.

Roy took to his social media handles this afternoon to confirm that he is skipping IPL 2022 due to bio-bubble fatigue as staying in bio-secure environments for a large part of the last three years has “taken a toll” on him.

Jason Roy replacement for IPL 2022

While Titans are yet to name a replacement for the 31-year old opening batter, they might want to take some time to convert this setback into a blessing in disguise. While the team management will have to select from the list of players who took part in IPL 2022 auction, there is no restriction around bringing on board a specialist batter like Roy.

Keeping the quality aside for another discussion, Gujarat have enough bowling resources in their remaining 22-member squad. Hence, no point in giving an overseas spot to a bowler who might end up warming the bench throughout the season. Instead, GT should aim for a specialist batter or an all-rounder.

Batting replacements for Jason Roy IPL 2022

The team management at Titans can be slightly relieved because there still are a lot of options remaining among batters. With the presence of Shubman Gill and Wriddhiman Saha in the squad, GT should refrain themselves from picking another similar-anchor-type batter.

Hence, the likes of Steven Smith, Marnus Labuschagne or Dawid Malan are unlikely to be bought. With possible restrictions around the full IPL 2022 availability of Australian and English cricketers, the management has another reason to not be inclined towards these names.

Primarily known for his hard-hitting skills at the top of the order, Gujarat could replace Roy with Austalia’s Chris Lynn or Ireland’s Paul Stirling. Despite a recent dip in form, Lynn is a proven campaigner in the T20 circuit around the world.

Stirling, on the other hand, could be an astute addition for the given role. Having represented Islamabad United in the recently concluded Pakistan Super League 2022, Stirling had scored 200 runs in six innings at an average and strike rate of 33.33 and 176.99 including a couple of half-centuries.

Having played in T20 leagues across the world since his debut in 2008, Stirling bats with a strike rate of 141.67 (more than Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, MS Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh) in the format.

Other possible contenders are New Zealand’s Martin Guptill and Colin Munro, Australia’s Ben McDermott and Afghanistan’s Rahmanullah Gurbaz.

All-rounder replacements for Jason Roy IPL 2022

Gujarat, who already have a bunch of all-rounders in captain Hardik Pandya, Vijay Shankar, Drakes and Rahul Tewatia, could still bring on board another all-rounder. What that will require Titans to do is bat one of their finishers (including Miller) in the Top Four.

If Titans are to include all-rounders based on current form, they need not look beyond Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka or Namibia all-rounder David Wiese. While Shanaka had been his team’s major contributor in the recently concluded T20I series in India, Wiese most recently performed a crucial role to power Lahore Qalandars to a maiden PSL title.

Australia all-rounder Moises Henriques is one experienced name who can both bat in the top-order and contribute with the ball in hand. A two-time Big Bash League winning captain, Henriques encompasses of the acumen needed to thrive in pressure situations.