Gaikwad opts out of deal with Yorkshire due to personal reasons

India middle-order batter Ruturaj Gaikwad has opted out of the final part of the County Championship for Yorkshire citing “personal reasons”.

The 28-year-old had agreed to a five-game deal, starting with the match against reigning champions Surrey at Scarborough from July 22.

But Yorkshire confirmed in a statement that Gaikwad would not be available.

Gaikwad was due to debut at North Marine Road on Tuesday against the reigning champions and remain with Yorkshire until the end of the season.

Yorkshire head coach Anthony McGrath said the county are assessing their options regarding a replacement, but there are other things to contend with as well ahead of the 10^th round clash.

“Unfortunately Gaikwad’s not coming now for personal reasons,” said McGrath.

“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.”

Gaikwad, who captains Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League and Maharashtra in the Ranji Trophy, has played six ODIs and 23 T20s. However, due to an elbow injury, he only played five games in this year’s IPL.