India cricketer Cheteshwar Pujara will not be available for Sussex’s County Championship opening clash after delays in issuing his visa. Sussex are to being their campaign against Nottinghamshire from April 7 (Thursday).
Pujara had signed a contract with Sussex to play in their first six matches of the season and then return later for the Royal London Cup and more championship matches. However, the delay, a result of Ukraine crisis, means the Indian will only be available from the second match onwards.
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“Securing overseas players has been tremendously difficult in the current climate. We renegotiated the initial Pujara contract so he could return for more County Championship and Royal London Cup matches, and this subsequently changed the visa requirements,” Sussex Performance Director Keith Greenfield was quoted as saying on the club’s website.
“On top of this, the Ukraine crisis has meant that the Home Office redirected their resources to help with the displacement of Ukrainian citizens. We were expecting Pujara to be with us last weekend but can now confirm he will be here at the back end of this week,” he added.
Sussex head coach Ian Salisbury is ‘extremely disappointed’ on missing someone like Pujara for their season opener. “Of course I am extremely disappointed that we will not have a player of Pujara’s experience and quality to be available for the opening day of the season, but we must move on and now focus on the game ahead of us,” Salisbury said.
Pujara was dropped from India’s Test squad for their two-match home series against Sri Lanka. He has also been demoted in BCCI’s central contracts from Grade A+ to Grade B. This came after the middle-order batter was found himself under pressure due to lack of big scores.
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