Yorkshire have suffered a major setback just before their crucial County Championship fixture against defending champions Surrey, as their key overseas player, Ruturaj Gaikwad, has pulled out of the season citing personal reasons. The Indian opener was set to make his maiden appearance in county cricket this summer, with the expectation of boosting his personal career as well as the club’s fortunes in the red-ball championship and the One-Day-Cup. However, his sudden withdrawal has left the team management looking for a replacement for a very short duration.
A sudden withdrawal due to personal reasons
The news about Gaikwad’s withdrawal was officially confirmed by Yorkshire head coach Anthony McGrath, who admitted the decision came as a surprise and left very little room for adjustments. “Unfortunately Gaikwad’s not coming now for personal reasons,” head coach Anthony McGrath said. “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.” He added.
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Later the Yorkshire County Cricket club also took it to their official social media handles and informed the fans about the unseen circumstance and the withdrawal of Gaikwad for the remainder of the season.”The Yorkshire County Cricket Club can confirm that Ruturaj Gaikwad will no longer be joining the Club for the 2025 season due to personal reasons,” the club wrote on X.
The Yorkshire County Cricket Club can confirm that Ruturaj Gaikwad will no longer be joining the Club for the 2025 season due to personal reasons.
The Yorkshire County Cricket Club can confirm that Ruturaj Gaikwad will no longer be joining the Club for the 2025 season due to personal reasons. pic.twitter.com/zP6YIRZDCT
— Yorkshire CCC (@YorkshireCCC) July 18, 2025
Ruturraj Gaikwad’s Career
The 28-year old Gaikwad, has recently led Chennai Super Kings in the IPL 2025 Season, and has been out of the action for over three months due an elbow injury he faced during his IPL which led him ruled out of the 18th IPL edition. Although he made a recovery and was even picked for the India A squad’s tour of England for four-day matches, he did not get a chance to feature in any game. Yorkshire had signed him with the hopes of strengthening their batting order for the remainder of the County Championship and the upcoming One-Day Cup.
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Yorkshire, currently 8th in the County Championship, were counting on Ruturaj to help them revive their campaign but his sudden withdrawal will add more pressure on the team leaving them with little time to find a suitable overseas player ready to jump in the middle as replacement.
