IPL 2023: Jason Roy joins KKR squad, bowling coach Bharat Arun backs Nitish Rana to come good with bat

Englandopening batter Jason Roy joined the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) squad on Saturday ahead of the Gujarat Titans (GT) match. Roy, who got roped in as a replacement for Bangladesh T20I skipper Shakib Al Hasan, could likely get into the XI for the GT clash on Sunday. On the other hand, KKR’s bowling coach Bharat Arun has backed captain and under-performing Nitish Rana to come good with the bat soon.

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KKR got hit by various concerns ahead of the start of the 16th edition of the IPL as its regular skipper Shreyas Iyer got ruled out for an indefinite time due to a back injury. Not only this, the former two-time champions were to avail services of two Bangladesh players in Shakib and Litton Das, who too haven’t arrived because of national commitments. Das is expected to join the KKR squad by April 14th.

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Jason Roy’s joining will boost the side’s confidence moving forward.With Rahmanullah Gurbaz doing an excellent job at the top so far, he can get a new opening partner in Roy, who is coming off an exciting PSL 2023, where he scored 245 runs in seven matches.

Bharat backs Rana to come good with bat

While there is enough firepower in the top three for Kolkata, Rana’s poor form has somewhere held them back in two matches played so far. Bowling coach Bharat Arun has, however, backed the skipper to come good with the bat soon.

Speaking ahead of the GT clash at the pre-match presser, Arun countered questions on Rana’s form and said,

“He (Nitish) is an extremely confident player. It’s too early to say that it is a lack of runs. I am sure he will find his form.” Arun added, “He is young, he has got very good cricketing acumen and that’s the reason we chose him as a captain. We are confident that he will be doing well for us,” Bharat said.

Showering praises on Roy, Arun said, “He is an exciting player, and he would certainly add a lot of value to us, and we are all excited about it.”

Meanwhile, after losing their opener against Punjab Kings in Mohali, KKR made a winning return to their home ground at Eden Gardens by beating RCB by 81 runs. They will now face Gujarat in Ahmedabad on Sunday afternoon.