India opener and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain Ruturaj Gaikwad has pulled out from his deal with the Yorkshire County Cricket Club days ahead of his scheduled debut in the County Championship.
Yorkshire signed the Indian batter back in June and believed he would be available for both the County Championship and the One-Day Cup starting from July until the end of the season.
However, just three days before his debut against Surrey, the Division 1 leaders, the 28-year-old informed the club of his unavailability due to personal reasons.
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Why did Ruturaj Gaikwad pull out of the Yorkshire deal?
Speaking to the media after Yorkshire's thrilling final-ball win over Leicestershire on July 18, the head coach, Anthony McGrath announced that Gaikwad would not be available for the game at Scarborough on July 22.
He expressed his disappointment and looked unsure of how the club would replace him just a couple of days ahead of the match. Although McGrath stopped short of revealing the reason but wished the best for Gaikwad.
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"Unfortunately, Gaikwad's not coming now for personal reasons. We're not going to have him for Scarborough or for the rest of the season. So that's disappointing," said the Yorkshire head coach Anthony McGrath.
"I can't tell you anything about the reasons why, but we hope that everything's ok. We've literally just found out. We’re working behind the scenes on what we can do. But it’s only two or three days away, so I’m not sure what we can do at the moment." McGrath added.
Notably, the top-order batter was recently with India A in their preparatory matches against England Lions ahead of the Test series. However, Gaikwad did not feature in any of those matches either.
When did Ruturaj Gaikwad last play competitive cricket?
Gaikwad last played a competitive match against the Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League on April 8 before suffering an elbow fracture that ruled him out of the tournament.
As things stand, his next top-level assignment is the domestic season with Maharashtra's Ranji Trophy team.
On the other hand, Yorkshire sit 8th on the Division 1 table of the County Championship 2025 with 2 wins, 4 losses and 3 draws, accumulating 91 points in 9 rounds.
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