Fact-Check: Will Suresh Raina Replace Jason Roy In IPL 2022?

Star England opener Jason Roy has pulled out of the IPL 2022 season. He was bought by the Gujarat Titans, one of the two new franchises, for his base price of INR 2 crore at the mega-auction. And a rumour has been pushed that Suresh Raina has been roped in as his replacement.

However, Roy, 31, won’t feature for the Titans this season, as the bubble life has “added up and taken a toll on me,” he cited the reason, adding that he wishes to spend more time with his family; he and his wife welcomed their second child in January. Roy has also pulled out from the early stages of the County Championship season.

Gujarat Titan replaced Jason Roy by Suresh Raina for IPL2022. ?#GujaratTitans #SureshRaina? pic.twitter.com/13XkyXROiP
— Tata IPL – Indian Premier League (@TataIPL_) March 2, 2022

Jason Roy was recently playing in the PSL 2022, finishing as among the top batters in the tournament, and was within the bio-bubble; participation in the IPL would have meant more than two months of bubble life for the swashbuckling English opener.

“With everything going on in the world over the last 3 years, it’s added up and taken a toll on me,” Roy said. “I feel it’s only right I spend some quality time with my family. As well as spending time working on myself and my game over the next couple of months leading in to a busy year.”

This is the second time Roy has decided to not to play the IPL after finding a team at the auction. In 2020, Delhi Capitals picked up Roy for his then base price of INR 1.5 crore, but he opted out for personal reasons.

Now, what has been interesting is that the name of IPL stalwart and former CSK batsman Suresh Raina has been doing rounds on social media along with the Gujarat Titans.

Suresh Raina was unsold at the mega-auction and the fans have been led to believe by a fake IPL Twitter account that the former CSK star was roped in by the Titans as Roy’s replacement. A fake Twitter handle with the name of Tata IPL – Indian Premier League (@Tata_IPL) shared a photo of Suresh Raina wearing a jersey with Gujarat Titans’ logo, adding that he has replaced Jason Roy.

Fact-Check: Will Suresh Raina Replace Jason Roy In IPL 2022? — This is a fake (photoshopped) image.

This tweet from the fake account immediately gained attention from the fans; it has gotten over 20,000 likes and many fans have been congratulating Raina for his return to the IPL, although not in the Yellow of CSK.

So, confirming that at the moment Gujarat has not announced Raina or any other player as Jason Roy’s replacement. It is expected that they will name the replacement soon.

It was a sad moment when Raina went unsold at the mega-auction, with not even CSK raising a bid for Mr IPL. His poor form and fitness from last season were the main reasons for Raina going unsold.

The IPL 2022 is set to kick-off from March 26 with defending champions CSK to play the first game.