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New Delhi: Team India batter Ruturaj Gaikwad has pulled out of his County deal with Yorkshire due to personal reasons at home. He was set to make his debut against Surrey at the North Marine Road on July 22 and remain with the team until the end of the season.
He was with the India A squad for the England tour and was expected to join the squad for the match against Surrey, but he won't be available to play in the ongoing season, leaving a huge hole in the Yorkshire team.
Gaikwad has not played any top-tier match since the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. The 28-year-old batter only managed to feature in six games before getting hit on the elbow during the match against the Rajasthan Royals (RR). Ayush Mhatre replaced him in the squad, with MS Dhoni taking over as CSK skipper.
Yorkshire head coach Anthony McGrath confirmed Ruturaj's unavailability, stating that he will not join the team due to personal reasons and will be out for the remainder of the season. McGrath further added that he can't tell anything about the reason and hoped that everything is fine.
He also said that the team management is working behind the scenes to find his replacement soon, but the time pressure is the issue, as the match against Surrey is just two or three days away.
Gaikwad was set to travel to England for the 2023 World Test Championship final as a standby player, but decided to withdraw his name as he was getting married on June 3.
He was added to the team as a standby opener for the WTC final against Australia, but the batter informed the BCCI that he would be able to join the team only after June 5.
Ruturaj was named in the Test squad for the West Indies series in the following month, but didn't feature in the playing XI. Meanwhile, Jaiswal made his debut on that tour and smashed a hundred on his Test debut.
He got the opportunity to lead India A against Australia in the two unofficial Test matches in 2024 but struggled to perform with the bat, scoring only 20 runs in four innings.
Players like Karun Nair, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane have played in the County Championship to get back in the Indian squad, but Gaikwad missed the opportunity to impress the selectors as his name is currently nowhere near the Test setup.
