India’s Ruturaj Gaikwad will not be turning out for Yorkshire this summer after withdrawing from his county contract because of what the club has described as “a personal issue at home”.
Head coach Anthony McGrath broke the news on Friday, only three days before Gaikwad was meant to make his County Championship debut against Surrey at Scarborough. “Unfortunately Gaikwad’s not coming now for personal reasons,” McGrath confirmed. “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.”
Yorkshire had lined up the Chennai Super Kings opener for the remainder of their red-ball campaign, hoping his recent white-ball exploits would translate into Division One runs. Instead, the county are scrambling for cover. “We’re working behind the scenes on what we can do,” McGrath said. “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, 28, has not played competitively since missing IPL 2025 with a hand injury – CSK had to draft in Ayush Mhatre while MS Dhoni stepped back in as captain. The right-hander did spend time at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru earlier this month, yet was still short of match fitness.
Yorkshire’s immediate headache is a stretched squad. Dom Bess sat out the Vitality Blast match against Leicestershire with what McGrath described as “a little bit of a niggle from the Roses game”. Jonny Bairstow was also absent. “Jonny’s partner is due to give birth at any time, so we wish him and his family well,” the coach explained. “For Scarborough, we don’t know about that yet.”
Losing an overseas signing so late is never ideal, and Yorkshire supporters may recall similar last-minute reshuffles in previous seasons. On paper Gaikwad’s stroke-play looked tailor-made for Yorkshire’s seamer-friendly pitches once the ball softened. Whether a replacement can be secured in time – and of comparable quality – is far from certain.
For Gaikwad, the priority is clearly away from the field. Unless he resurfaces with India in the autumn limited-overs home fixtures, his next high-profile appearance might not come until the 2025-26 domestic season.
Plenty of moving parts, then, and precious little time. Whatever Yorkshire decide, their campaign rolls on at Scarborough on Monday – just without the Indian opener they had banked on.