England National Cricket Team and Quetta Gladiators’ top-order batsman Jason Roy pulled off an absolutely sensational catch during the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2024 match against Lahore Qalandars on Sunday, March 10.
The match between Shaheen Afridi-led Lahore and Rilee Rossouw-led Quetta is currently underway at the National Stadium in Karachi. Lahore Qalandars won the toss and elected to bat first in the match.
They got off to a decent start in the match as Sahibzada Farhan and Mirza Baig batted cautiously against the Quetta Gladiators bowling unit. Things were going well for the Lahore Qalandars before mystery spinner Abrar Ahmed produced an incredible double wicket to stun Shaheen Afridi & Co.
It was the sixth over of the match when Abrar came to bowl and dismissed both the openers. However, the first wicket he picked caught attention when Jason Roy took a stunning catch to dismiss Sahibzada Farhan.
On the third ball of the sixth over, the mystery spinner bowled a short delivery on middle stump and the batsman walked down the track to play an aerial shot at mid-on. However, Jason Roy timed his jump perfectly and completed a stunning two-handed overhead catch.
Watch: Jason Roy makes an impressive catch in the Pakistan Super League (PSL)
You got to be kidding! 😱
Jason Roy makes a special capture 🙌#HBLPSL9 | #KhulKeKhel | #QGvLQ pic.twitter.com/qXmxk0q2OH
– Pakistan Super League (@thePSLt20) March 10, 2024
Sahibzada Farhan was dismissed after scoring 25 runs off 22 balls, with 4 fours, while Mirza Baig returned to the pavilion after contributing 12 runs off 13 balls, including 1 maximum.
Coming back to Jason Roy, the English batsman has decided to withdraw his name from the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 due to personal reasons. The development was confirmed on Sunday.
This is not the first time that Jason Roy has left an IPL franchise as he has also pulled out of IPL 2022 citing the challenge of staying in the tournament bubble for an extended period. At that time, the Gujarat Titans roped him in for his base price of INR 2 crore in the auction.
Meanwhile, to cope with the absence of Jason Roy, two-time Indian Premier League (IPL) champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have included Phil Salt in the squad. Salt has been in excellent form in recent months and is currently ranked No. 2 in the ICC Men’s T20I batting rankings, only behind Suryakumar Yadav.
Phil Salt represented Delhi Capitals (DC) in IPL 2023 and had a good run with the bat. He played 9 matches for DC and was able to score 218 runs at an average of 27.25 and a strike rate of 163.91. He was expected to attract bidders in the IPL 2024 auction, but that was not the case and he did not sell.
Phil Salt, who hit the fastest T20I hundred for the England national cricket team off 48 balls in December 2023, has been signed by the Kolkata Knight Riders, advised by Gautam Gambhir, for his base price of IN.₹1.5 crore. Roy was a starter for the Knight Riders, therefore there is a chance that Salt will appear in the playing XI from the first game.