When Will Jason Roy Join KKR for IPL 2023?

It was on Wednesday that England batter Jason Roy was announced as Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan‘s replacement by Kolkata Knight Riders for Indian Premier League 2023.

With KKR slated to play a match the next day, Roy was never going to make it on time for their clash against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Eden Gardens. At the time, it was said that Roy will directly join the team in Ahmedabad for the ongoing IPL 2023 Match 13 between Knight Riders and Gujarat Titans.

Having said that, Roy didn’t make it to their Playing XI today as well as Kolkata opted to retain Afghanistan wicket-keeper batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz especially after he had scored a half-century against RCB. With Knight Riders playing Narayan Jagadeesan ahead of Mandeep Singh on Sunday, they had a wicket-keeping option in the form of the uncapped Indian batter.

When Will Jason Roy Join KKR for IPL 2023?

It is worth mentioning that Roy has already joined the franchise as communicated at the time of the first announcement. Roy himself took to social media platform Twitter on the eve of the ongoing match to confirm the development.

As a result, the only reason which appears behind KKR not handing him a debut at the Narendra Modi Stadium could be for them wanting to hand more opportunities to Gurbaz.

It is noteworthy that there is no way Roy can bat in the second innings as an Impact Player because Kolkata already fielded with four overseas players namely Gurbaz, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine and Lockie Ferguson. The only way for a team to bring an overseas player as a substitute is for it to play only three non-Indian cricketers in the first place.

Is Jason Roy a wicket-keeper batter?

No. Roy is a specialist batter who has never kept wickets even once across 185 international matches. Set to return to the biggest T20 competition in the world after missing the last season, Roy will be representing his fourth IPL team in what is his fourth IPL season.