Chesteshwara Pujara, the India middle-order batsman, has penned a deal with Yorkshire for the 2018 England domestic season, the Yorkshire County Cricket Club confirmed. He is expected to arrive just in time to play Yorkshire's fixture against Leeds Bradford MCCU, starting from April 7.
Pujara had signed a deal with the County several weeks ago but the announcement was purposely postponed to account of the Indian Premier League Auction. The veteran batsman is set to return to India after the Royal London 50-over game against Lancashire to partake in the one-off Test against Afghanistan, commencing from June 14.
However, he is scheduled to return to England to play in the County Championship game versus Hampshire, starting on June 20. There is also a possibility of Pujara staying on in England after the completion of the five-match Test series between India and the home side, to play fixtures against Hampshire and Worcestershire in September.
Previously, Pujara had signed with Yorkshire as Younis Khan's replacement in April 2015. He played four matches during that season, compiling 264 runs at an average of 52.80. He has also played for Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. During the 2017 County season, Pujara represented Nottinghamshire, accumulating 333 runs at 27.75.
Sachin Tendulkar, who had replaced an injured Craig McDermott as Yorkshire's overseas cricketer for the 1992 England domestic season (the first overseas-born cricketer to represent the County), and Yuvraj Singh (8 first class matches in 2003), are the other Indian cricketers to have played for Yorkshire.
"I'm really excited to be able to have the opportunity to represent Yorkshire once again. 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.I know quite a few of the players, so I'll just try to play my natural game and score plenty of runs for the Club.”
