Gujarat Lions will miss the service of Jason Roy for the remainder of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) as the England opener has left India to play for Surrey in two Royal London One-Day Cup fixtures later this month, following the completion of this week’s two-match ODI series against Ireland which will commence on May 5.
The England batsman, who was playing his maiden IPL this season, had originally been expected to return to play in the closing stages of the tournament following the completion of the second ODI at Lord’s on Sunday (May 7). However, the right-handed batsman, who has played just three games for the Lions, had previously expressed his desire of playing some county cricket before the all-important ICC Champions Trophy and the ECB has now released the Surrey start to play in two matches against Essex on May 12 and Hampshire on May 14.
“It’s definitely difficult getting into a different mindset. It’s not really a technical thing; it’s more a mindset thing. Especially going from red ball to white ball. T20 and 50-over cricket can be quite similar. So just playing white-ball cricket would be beneficial coming into the Champions Trophy,” Roy was quoted by the telegraph.co.uk as saying when asked about his eagerness to prepare for the 50-over tournament.
Roy took to Twitter to thank his team for the support.
“Thanks @TheGujaratLions for having me this @IPL. Absolutely love playing cricket here in India and thanks for all the support,” he tweeted.
Thanks @TheGujaratLions for having me this @IPL. Absolutely love playing cricket here in India and thanks for all the support. HOME TIME❕❕
— Jason Roy (@JasonRoy20) May 2, 2017
Roy’s absence, meanwhile, is unlikely to cause a lot of problems for the Lions. The 26-year old had managed to score just 59 runs in 3 outings with the highest score of 31. With just 3 wins in 10 games, the Lions have been struggling this season but Roy could not manage to cement his spot in the team and is now fully concentrating on the games in England to prepare for the Champions Trophy.
England skipper Eoin Morgan (Kings XI Punjab) and Sam Billings (Delhi Daredevils) have also left for England but there is no news on their availability after the Ireland series.
Meanwhile, Ben Stokes (Rising Pune Supergiant), Jos Buttler (Mumbai Indians) and Chris Woakes (Kolkata Knight Riders) have been allowed to miss the ODI series.