Ruturaj Gaikwad pulls out of County Championship deal with Yorkshire

Yorkshire head coach Anthony McGrath confirmed Gaikwad’s unavailability

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Ruturaj Gaikwad
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Ruturaj Gaikwad. (Photo Source: Twitter/X)

Indian batter Ruturaj Gaikwad has withdrawn from his County Championship stint with Yorkshire, just days before his scheduled debut. The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain had signed a five-match deal last month, but due to personal reasons have led to his sudden exit from the English domestic season.

Yorkshire head coach Anthony McGrath confirmed Gaikwad’s unavailability ahead of their County Championship fixture against defending champions Surrey at Scarborough on July 22. 

“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. 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. We’re working to try and get a possible replacement, but time pressure is the issue. I can’t give you anything more than that at the moment,” said Yorkshire head coach Anthony McGrath as quoted by the Indian Express.

The county club is yet to share details about the reason for Gaikwad’s withdrawal. The Maharashtra batter had expressed his excitement to play in the English domestic season.

“I’m excited to be joining up with Yorkshire for the rest of the English domestic season. It has always been a goal of mine to experience cricket in this country, and there is no bigger Club in England than Yorkshire," Gaikwad had said.

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Gaikwad was recently included in India A's squad for England tour

Meanwhile, the batter has been dealing with fitness and form challenges in recent months. He fractured his elbow while leading CSK during the IPL 2025 season and was ruled out after just five matches, where he averaged 24.40. Although he was later included in the India A squad for the England tour, he did not feature in any of the two matches against the England Lions.

In First-Class cricket, he has scored 2632 runs in 38 matches at an average of 41.77. His last First-Class appearance was during the India A tour of Australia in 2024, where he managed just 20 runs across four innings. In the 2024-25 Indian domestic season, he scored 571 runs in 12 innings, including one century.