England opener Jason Roy has pulled out of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022, citing the challenge of staying in the tournament bubble for an extended period. Roy’s sudden pulling out has dealt a major blow to one of IPL’s new teams, Gujarat Titans, who bought the English opener for his base price of INR 2 crore at the IPL 2022 Mega auction.

According to reports, he had informed the Ahmedabad-based franchise last week. Gujarat Titans are yet to name a replacement for the English cricketer. Notably, this is not the first time that Roy has pulled out of an IPL season after being bought at an auction. In 2020, Delhi Capitals had roped in Roy for his then base price of INR 1.5 crore, but he opted out for personal reasons.

Notably, Roy has earlier represented Gujarat Lions (2017), Delhi Daredevils (2018) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (2021). He went unsold at the 2021 auction but was drafted in as a replacement for the Australia allrounder Mitchell Marsh. Overall, Roy has managed to score 329 runs in 13 IPL matches at an average of 29.90 and a strike rate of 129.01.

Roy was the leading run-scorer for Quetta Gladiators in the recently concluded Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2022, which was also played within a biosecure bubble. Roy amassed 303 runs at an average of 50.50 and a strike rate of 170.22, scoring two fifties and a hundred.