England cricketer Jason Roy has pulled out of the IPL 2022 citing bio-bubble fatigue. Roy was bought by Gujrat Titans, one of the two new franchises in the IPL, for his base price of INR 2 crore (USD 266,000). Though as of now Gujrat Titans have not announced any replacements for Jason Roy, there are reports about the players whom the franchise is possibly eying to bring in as the replacement for Roy. And Suresh Raina reportedly is one of the big names in Gujrat Titans’ list.
This is for the second time that Roy has pulled out of the IPL. Back in 2020, when he was a part of the Delhi Capitals, he opted out due to personal reasons. Back then, he was replaced by Daniel Sams in the Delhi side. Now it will be interesting to see whom the Gujrat franchise brings in to replace Roy.
Suresh Raina might be seen playing in IPL 2022
As soon as Roy had announced his unavailability for the IPL 2022 through an Instagram post, the Indian fans went on to ask the Gujrat Titans to bring in Suresh Raina as the replacement, via various social media platforms. As a result, Suresh Raina is already trending on Twitter with the #GujratTitans tag. The veteran Indian batsman went unsold in the mega-auction held in Bengaluru last month. However, there is a high possibility that the left-hander finds himself in the Gujrat Titans camp during the upcoming season.
Raina though has not performed well in the last season, he is an experienced campaigner and brings in a lot of experience and balance to any side. Raina could only score 160 runs in 12 matches at an average of 17.77 in IPL 2021. He wasn’t a part of IPL 2020 as he opted out due to personal reasons. In spite of all of this, what works in the favor of Raina is that he has a good history with the Gujrat Franchise. He led the Gujrat Lions back in 2016 & 2017. In those two seasons, he went on to score 800 runs at an impressive average of 40.18.
Raina has played 205 IPL matches so far and scored 5528 runs, including 39 fifties and a century. Despite a rough last season, he is still the fourth-highest run-scorer in the history of the IPL.
Other Players who might replace Jason Roy
Dawid Malan: Malan has played one match for Punjab Kings in the last season where is scored 26 runs. He withdrew from the UAE leg of IPL 2021 due to personal reasons.
Aaron Finch: Finch was not a part of IPL 2021 as RCB released him after the 2020 edition and he found no buyers in next year’s auction. The Australian captain has played 87 IPL matches so far. He has scored 2005 runs at an average of 25.70 in the Indian T20 league.
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Martin Guptill: Guptill as well went unsold in IPL 2021. In the 13 matches he has played in his IPL career, he has managed to score 270 runs at an average of 22.50 and a handy strike rate of 137.75.
Shakib Al Hasan: Shakib Al Hasan is currently the 2nd ranked all-rounder in the ICC T20I rankings. He played 8 matches for KKR in IPL 2021 where he managed to score just 47 runs at an average of 9.40.