India batter Ruturaj Gaikwad has opted out of his County Championship contract with Yorkshire Cricket Club citing personal reasons, just days before his scheduled debut on July 22.
Gaikwad, who had signed the deal last month to play for the remainder of the English domestic season, informed Yorkshire of his decision to withdraw, leaving the club seeking a potential replacement at the last minute.
Yorkshire head coach Anthony McGrath confirmed Gaikwad's pull out from the agreement, stating: "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."
McGrath refused to divulge details about the exact reasons behind Gaikwad's decision, saying: "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."
When Gaikwad's signing with Yorkshire was announced in June, he had expressed excitement about joining the iconic English county club.
He had stated: "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."
Notably, Ruturaj Gaikwad has been away from competitive action since April 8, following an elbow fracture sustained while leading Chennai Super Kings in the IPL 2025 season.
While Gaikwad was selected for the India A squad touring England last month, he did not feature in either of the two four-day matches against England Lions.
Gaikwad's First-Class cricket numbers are quite moderate, with 2632 runs at an average of 41.77 across 38 matches. His recent performances include a challenging India A tour to Australia last year, where he managed only 20 runs in four innings.
