England opener Jason Roy is one of the few cricketers from his country apart from Moeen Ali and Chris Jordan, who are coming into the T20 World Cup 2021 with the added advantage of getting the feel of the conditions in the UAE after turning out for Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2021. Roy has an impressive T20I record with a career strike-rate of 145.66 and will be expected to be one of the top performers for Eoin Morgan’s side.
“Coming from IPL 2021 to T20 World Cup 2021 has a lot of benefits. We have a feel of things, training and playing on these pitches, spending a lot of time interacting with players from other teams. Boys who have played in IPL have a big advantage,” Roy, who will be turning out for Delhi Bulls in the Abu Dhabi T10 league, said during a virtual interaction on Thursday (October 21).
“England is not worried about the form of their batting line-up. We have been training hard, lot of cricketers from England haven’t played a lot of cricket in the last few months apart from those in IPL. But we are all shaping up well,” the 31-year-old felt.
England lost their first warm-up game against Virat Kohli’s India but managed to defeat New Zealand by 13 runs in the second clash on Wednesday (October 20). “India are playing some amazing cricket and have just completed IPL 2021, so they will be one of most dangerous sides. In our own group, South Africa have managed to defeat Pakistan and will be a dangerous outfit,” Roy felt.
Victory by 13 runs!
4 wickets for @MAWood33
3 wickets for Rash #T20WorldCup | #EnglandCricket pic.twitter.com/XqdsiaQ6Sp— England Cricket (@englandcricket) October 20, 2021
“The India match was our first game after a long time, so we are not very concerned about that loss. It was a case of getting to know where we can improve and we have to learn very quickly,” the English opener felt.
England will be missing the likes of Ben Stokes, Sam Curran and Jofra Archer due to injuries but Roy doesn’t feel concerned about their absence.
“It’s not a problem but a shame really. You look at the England squad now and it is still very strong at the moment. So we are not worried about our chances,” he added.
England will open their T20 World Cup 2021 campaign against defending champions West Indies on Saturday (October 23) and will look to avenge their loss in the 2016 T20 World Cup final.
