“Jason Roy difficult to replace, losing him a huge blow for England,” says Steve Harmison

The former England fast bowler Steve Harmison reckons it won’t be easy for England to find a like for like replacement for Jason Roy at the top of the order, going into the knockouts of T20 World Cup 2021.

Jason Roy, who has been one of England’s premier batsmen in white-ball cricket for a long time now, sustained a calf injury while batting in England’s last group game against South Africa yesterday, and he immediately had to leave the field which gave the impression that it was a serious injury.

Roy didn’t come out to bat later in the game despite England needing a big hitter towards the end, and the news from the England camp was that they were not sure if Roy would be available for the knockouts or not and his injury would be “assessed”.

Steve Harmison doesn’t think, with the kind of injury Roy has sustained, he would be able to be 100% fit for the semi-final or the final if England gets there.

Harmison thinks Jason Roy complements Jos Buttler by going hard at the top

According to Harmison, Roy is the kind of batsman who, more often than not, goes ballistic at the top, and it helps Jos Buttler in the sense that he can take a slight bit of time before teeing off. For someone else to come in and do exactly the kind of job Roy was doing and that too on these difficult pitches of the UAE, it will be tricky.

“Huge blow for England to lose Jason Roy. He takes the pressure off Buttler in that first half of the powerplay. He is going to be difficult to replace for England,” Harmison said while speaking on ESPNcricinfo.

England, despite losing their last group game against South Africa, still topped group 1 on the basis of their net run rate (NRR) which was better than that of Australia who finished second in the group.

In the semi-finals now, England will face the no. 2 team from group 2 which will be one of India, New Zealand or Afghanistan.