England’s limited-overs opener Jason Roy has pulled out of the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League, starting March 26. Roy has taken a contentious decision four weeks before the start of the competition after being picked by Gujarat Titans.
Bought by GT at a base prize sum of INR 2 crores, Roy has withdrawn from IPL 2022 fearing excessive time in the competition bubble and mental fatigue that he may face. The 31-year-old is wary of the drain-out that he might experience staying in a stringent IPL bubble for over two months.
It comes across as a massive blow to the Titans, for whom Roy was their first-choice opening batter at the top along with their pre-auction signing Shubman Gill. The Titans will now enter a process to identify Roy’s adequate replacement.
This, of course, is not the first time that Roy has taken his name back from the IPL. The cricketer had also pulled out of IPL 2020 despite finding a base prize bid of INR 1.5 crores by Delhi Capitals, citing personal reasons.
A recent change in his personal life may have something to do with Roy’s latest call to opt-out of IPL 2022 as his second child was born in January. Staying in the IPL bubble would’ve required Roy to be away from his family, including his children, for over eight weeks in a window lasting till at least May 29 when the final is scheduled.
The IPL 2022 will be held from March 26 to May 29 in a Mumbai-Pune bubble. Although the IPL authorities are yet to share a detailed set of health safety protocols amid Covid-19 pandemic, it is understood that players will have to stay within the bubble for those two months.
Roy might have been wary of such a stay and has taken his call accordingly. The cricketer, however, has fallen under scrutiny for his decision, with critics directly asking was he not aware that, be it stringent or relaxed, a bubble will be adopted for the tournament before he signed up for the IPL 2022 mega auction?
Roy went ahead with registration for the auction and enjoyed a winning bid of INR 2 crores from GT despite considering pulling out at the back of his head. What would also bring him under the scanner is his willingness to stay in a biosecure environment for the Pakistan Super League 2022 recently.
Roy played as many as six matches of PSL 2022 for Quetta Gladiators, finishing as his team’s top run-scorer with 303 runs at 50.50 with a strike-rate of 170.22, including a hundred and two half-centuries. With nearly a month’s break from the end of PSL 2022 and IPL 2022, Roy was expected to be fit to represent the Titans in the biggest T20 league.
Roy’s form in the PSL only further makes him a massive loss for GT, who had planned their season around his presence at the top of the order. The England batter would’ve previously felt hard done by at IPL auctions where franchises have tended to consider England’s early summer international matches. Thus, it was being seen as his great opportunity to leave a mark for the Titans.
Roy has played five Tests, 98 ODIs and 58 T20Is for England, with the elegant right-hander coming up with his best in the white-ball arena. He has made 3,658 ODI runs at a strike-rate of 107.27, which jumps up to 143.45 in T20Is for 1,446 runs. In his sporadic 13 outings in the IPL for three different franchises, Roy has made 329 runs at a strike-rate of 129.01.
