Indian Test star Cheteshwar Pujara has signed with the Yorkshire County Cricket Club for the 2018 season. He will share the overseas duties with Kiwi Kane Williamson.

Pujara will arrive in the UK just in time for the Leeds Bradford MCCU fixture on April 7. Pujara will come home to India to play against Afghanistan in their inaugural Test match from June 14-18, after playing in the Royal London 50-Over clash at Lancashire. But he will go back to Yorkshire for the away trip to Hampshire, in the Specsavers County Championship, on June 20.

Yorkshire will have three of the top six Test batsmen on their staff in 2018, with Root (three), Williamson (four) and Pujara (six).

“I’m really excited to be able to have the opportunity to represent Yorkshire once again,” Pujara told yorkshireccc.com. “It’s always nice to be able to come over here and play some County Cricket and I’m just as excited as I was last time to represent the Club. I love the passion the people of Yorkshire have for the game and they made me feel very welcome.”

Pujara continued, “It’s an honour for me to play for the same county as Yuvraj Singh and Sachin Tendulkar and each time I’ve played county cricket it has improved me as a player. That’s the plan again in 2018. I just want to score as many runs as possible for Yorkshire and soak up as much as I can from the whole experience.”

“It goes without saying that Cheteshwar is a highly-driven individual and very skilled batsman,” said Director of Cricket Martyn Moxon. “We’re delighted to have him on board.He proved to be a very likable character the last time he was with us and the plan is for him to relieve some of the pressure on the top order that we struggled with at times in 2017."

“Just as he did in 2015, Pujara will relish the challenge of performing in English conditions. He’s very difficult to dislodge and will hopefully dominate the crease for us during his stay,” Moxon said.