Why is Jason Roy Not Playing Today’s IPL 2023 Match Between KKR and GT in Kolkata?

Kolkata Knight Riders have suffered not one but two major blows ahead of Indian Premier League 2023 Match 39 against defending champions Gujarat Titans at the Eden Gardens today. A couple of injury-related updates mean that they will be taking the field at their home ground without opening batter Jason Roy and fast bowler Umesh Yadav.

Roy had played a titular role in guiding KKR to a victory after four successive losses earlier this week. With him scoring 160 runs across three innings at an average and strike rate of 53.33 and 170.21 respectively, Kolkata will unequivocally miss him in this match.

The development was confirmed by captain Nitish Rana at the toss. It is noteworthy that GT captain Hardik Pandya won the coin toss to elect to bowl first. The start of the match, however, has been delayed due to rain.

Why is Jason Roy Not Playing Today vs Gujarat Titans?

For the unversed, Roy and Yadav have been left out due to individual back and hamstring niggles respectively. Wicket-keeper batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who had played the first five matches for the franchise, has returned to the Playing XI to open the batting alongside Narayan Jagadeesan.

Yadav, meanwhile, has been replaced by pacer Harshit Rana. The 21-year old player from Delhi will be playing his third IPL match after having played the first two for the same team last year. A third change for the home team has come in the form of all-rounder Shardul Thakur returning in place of Vaibhav Arora.

Titans, on the other hand, haven’t included batter Shubman Gill into their Playing XI. Having said that, one expects him to open the batting in the second innings as an Impact Player. Although after batting first, Gujarat have been substituting Gill for three matches in a row now.