Jason Roy hopes England's tour to Pakistan will continue as scheduled

KARACHI: England’s experienced white-ball cricketer Jason Roy is hopeful that Eoin Morgan's men will tour Pakistan this year as scheduled.

In an exclusive interview with Geo News, the 31-year-old cricketer said he had previously enjoyed his time in Pakistan and had shared the same feedback with his colleagues in the England team.

England is scheduled to tour Pakistan in September 2022 to play 7 T20Is before the T20 World cup in Australia. The side was also scheduled to tour Pakistan for two T20Is in October last year but later backed out of tour citing “bubble-fatigue”. The decision was criticised by several cricketers and officials.

If the tour had taken place as planned, Roy would’ve been part of that too.

When asked about his views on the cancelled tour, the opening batter said that the decision was made by people above his pay grade.

“I had no idea what was going on. It was kind of left up to people above my paygrade mate. It's not for me to say whether we should or shouldn't have come. That decision was made by our bosses, so you gotta respect it,” Roy said when asked for comments on the ECB's decision.

He, however, said that he previously enjoyed his experience of being in Pakistan and he has told the same to his colleagues in England.

“I've told them that I've enjoyed it. It's a different experience. Obviously being stuck in your hotel room. But yeah, I'm sure I think we're coming here at the end of the year before the World Cup so they'll get to see it then,” the England cricketer said.

“That's been on the schedule. Yeah. So, I assume we will be,” he responded quickly when asked if he’s confident that England will tour Pakistan later this year as scheduled.

“When I was here before, I think we were based in Islamabad, and it was a lovely hotel and the people were extremely friendly, and the hospitality was great. So yeah, I've always had good experiences here,” he recalled.

Jason arrived in Karachi for PSL 7 on Wednesday morning and is currently undergoing mandatory quarantine before returning to action. However, he is eagerly waiting for the quarantine to end.

He agreed that bubble after bubble is taking a toll on players' mental health.

“Yeah, it is taking a bit of a toll mate,” he said.

“To be honest, I think the last sort of six months have been relatively normal compared to what we've been used to. But even still having these three days now it's getting frustrating, you know, and it kind of may deter a lot of people away from playing too much cricket now. But it is tough. You've definitely got to find ways to get through it and look after your mental state as much as possible,” he said.

Talking about PSL, the England cricketer said that he loves to be part of the league. He appreciated the way PSL is helping the new talent coming through.

“Every single team has got superstars who can win games. I think that's what is so attractive about watching this. Each team has big names, international superstars, but then also young talent that's coming through. We saw that the other night 18-year-olds, 19-year-olds doing extremely well and getting man and matches. And that's exactly what you want from competitions like this, the kind of new generation coming through,” said Jason Roy who has represented England in 98 ODIs and 58 T20Is.

“First time I came to PSL, I was with Lahore Qalandars. And, I know they did a lot of stuff with big camps and getting local talent and getting people on board. With the amount of love that cricket has in Pakistan and in the subcontinent, I'm not surprised at all by the talent, to be honest. I mean, there are incredible players all around and you see it on the national side. Now those guys are coming through. So, it's an exciting few years ahead for Pakistan cricket,” Jason Roy said.

Replying to a question, the England cricketer said that spectators play an important role in making any league a success. He said that each league is different from the other and one can’t rate any of them.

“The crowds have a huge draw factor out there. With the IPL, the crowds are incredible. When we've played in the PSL when there've been crowds, it was absolutely amazing. So, I don't think you can beat playing cricket in the subcontinent as far as the fans and the love of the sports is concerned. They all [all leagues] pose a different kind of interest level,” he said when asked about the difference between PSL, IPL and BPL.

“The support [in Pakistan] is always amazing, you know from whether we're winning or losing their amazing fans. And, just generally throughout the PSL, the fans make the competition and I think the fans, maybe, don't realise that as much as they should that they really make a huge impact on our lives.” Roy concluded.