IPL 2023: KKR signs Jason Roy as the replacement for Shakib Al Hasan

IPL 2023: Kolkata Knight Riders’ all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan has confirmed his unavailability for the complete IPL 2023 season. The KKR franchise has now signed England opener Jason Roy as the replacement for Shakib Al Hasan in order to strengthen their batting lineup.

Shakib Al Hasan, along with Litton Das is a part of the Bangladesh squad for the test series against Ireland. On the other hand, Shreyas Iyer to has been ruled out of the IPL 2023 edition after he decided to undergo back surgery to get rid of his recurring back injury.

IPL 2023: Jason Roy set to join KKR before their third IPL 2023 game

Earlier, Shakib Al Hasan was declared unavailable for the initial phase of IPL 2023. However, later Shakib Al Hasan made it clear that he will remain unavailable for the complete IPL 2023 season which forced Kolkata Knight Riders to sign Jason Roy as the replacement of Shakib.

The all-rounder is a part of the Bangladesh squad for the series against Ireland. While the two nations are right now playing a test match in Bangladesh, Shakib will travel to Ireland in the month of May with the Bangladesh squad for the ODI series.

The KKR franchise has signed Jason Roy for INR 2.8 crore while his base price was INR 1.5 crore. Roy will join the KKR squad ahead of their third IPL 2023 match against Gujarat Titans on April 9. He has played 64 T20Is for England, scoring 1522 runs at a strike rate of 137.61 with 8 fifties.

Jason Roy has previously played in the Indian Premier League for three franchises. He last played for Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2021 while he has also represented Gujarat Lions and Delhi Capitals earlier.

Along with Shakib Al Hasan and Litton Das, KKR pacer Lockie Ferguson to hasn’t joined the KKR camp yet. In the absence of their three key overseas players, their team management had to choose from the five available overseas options in their first game against Punjab Kings.

In the absence of Shreyas Iyer, Nitish Rana is leading the Kolkata Knight Riders’ side. The presence of Jason Roy will allow Nitish Rana an additional overseas option to choose from as he will hope for better results in the upcoming games.