Jason Roy reveals the reason for pulling out of the IPL 2020

England opener Jason Roy pulled out of the Indian Premier League (IPL), starting from September 19, last week. While he was already ruled out of the T20I series against Pakistan due to side strain, many were surprised to see him pull out of entire IPL. However, the man himself has revealed that the hectic IPL schedule led him to take the tough decision.

Roy was snapped up by the Delhi Capitals in the auction last year for his base price of Rs 1.5 crore. He was one of the four openers in the Capitals’ squad and might have played a few matches thanks to his exceptional hitting abilities. But the franchise have picked Daniel Sams as his replacement after the England cricketer decided to not participate in the IPL. Earlier this year, even Chris Woakes pulled out of the entire IPL in order to keep himself fit for the international summer.

Coming back to Jason Roy’s decision, the 30-year-old is delighted that he has time on his hands now to get his body back in shape. Roy also stated that it was all going well during the lockdown for him but when it came to particular things, he felt that he is behind a bit.

“I can spend the next couple of months looking after myself and getting back to where I should be cricket-wise. During Covid and the lockdown, my running was good and cycling and all the stuff that ticks you over and makes you feel good but then you come to the specifics and you are a little bit behind because you don’t have the opportunity to net.

“So, I just think it is a nice opportunity to do that and looking at the schedule over there it’s pretty hectic, so it’ll be a nice opportunity to get fit and raring to go again,” he said while speaking to Cricbuzz.

Jason Roy recalls sustaining the injury

Jason Roy recalls everything was fine until he joined the bubble and went into the nets. But when he put a little more effort into his range shots, he felt a little bit awkward and pulled out straightaway only to find out the bad news. “It was a weird one (injury). I thought I’d go and do some range hitting to see where I was at and hit a couple and I was like ‘sweet, I haven’t forgotten how to hit a ball’ and then I put a lot of effort into a couple and kind of felt it; it was a bit awkward.

“And then I just pulled out straight away, left it for a day, and was like ‘nah, something has happened,” he added. However, despite being ruled out, Roy has stayed with the team in the bubble and is hoping to get fit in time for the upcoming white-ball series against Australia starting on September 4.