Jason Roy to bolster Kolkata's batting line-up in IPL 2023

Kolkata Knight Riders have signed England opener Jason Roy for the ongoing Indian Premier League to bolster a batting line-up weakened by the absence of star batsman Shreyas Iyer and all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan.

Kolkata captain Iyer was ruled out of entire IPL with a lower back injury that will require surgery and keep him out of the World Test Championship final against Australia in June as well.

All-rounder Shakib, currently leading Bangladesh in a one-off Test against Ireland in Mirpur, said he won't take part in the league due to national team commitments and personal matters.

Kolkata spent $340,000 to sign Roy, the IPL said in a statement.

Roy has been in sensational form of late. Playing for Quetta Gladiators, Roy smashed an unbeaten 145 off 63 balls in a Pakistan Super League match against Peshawar Zalmi last month.

Also, IPL champions Gujarat Titans have signed Sri Lanka's white-ball captain Dasun Shanaka to replace New Zealander Kane Williamson, who returned home after a knee injury ended his campaign.

Meanwhile, the viewership numbers of the ongoing season are set to break many records as JioCinema, the streaming service owned by online rights holders Mukesh Ambani’s conglomerate, drew more than 1.47 billion video views during the opening weekend of the IPL.

The digital rights for the IPL were secured by Asia’s richest man for $2.7 billion last year, with the tournament being shown for free across India.

This was the “highest-ever opening weekend” for the annual cricket event, JioCinema said in a statement on Monday, adding that the number of video viewers exceeded last year’s IPL, as well as the ICC T20 World Cup in 2022. The JioCinema app, which is streaming this year’s matches, recorded more than 50 million