Pujara set for second stint with Yorkshire

Cheteshwar Pujara, who is a mainstay in India’s top-order in the longest format of the game, failed to attract buyers in the recently concluded IPL player’s auction and he will now prepare for India’s tour of England by playing county cricket.

New Delhi: Cheteshwar Pujara, who is a mainstay in India’s top-order in the longest format of the game, failed to attract buyers in the recently concluded IPL player’s auction and he will now prepare for India’s tour of England by playing county cricket.

 The 29-year-old has been signed by Yorkshire and he will return to the club for a second stint, having guided them to Championship in 2015.

Although the deal was struck between Pujara and Yorkshire several months ago, the announcement was delayed, keeping in mind the IPL Auction

During that time, the BCCI has scheduled a one-off Test against Afghanistan in Bengaluru, from June 14-18, and Pujara is set to depart for his home country after the Royal London 50-Over clash at Lancashire.

Yorkshire is hoping Pujara will return in time for an away trip to Hampshire, in the Specsavers County Championship, on June 20. The club also said that Pujara may stay on after India's five-match Test tour of England between August 1 and September 11.

"There is also potential for Pujara to stay on after India's summer Test tour to play the final home fixture against Hampshire (Sep 18) followed by the trip to New Road to face Worcestershire (Sep 24)," the club said in its website.

The addition of a second overseas batsman means 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 said.

"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," Pujara said.

"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."

Pujara, who delivered a record-breaking 12th double century of his 12-year career towards the end of 2017, averages 56.68 in first-class cricket. His County Championship record stands at 816 runs with three fifties and as many hundreds. One of each came in Yorkshire colours in the early stages of the Club’s second successive Championship winning year.

"It goes without saying that Cheteshwar is a highly-  driven individual and very skilled batsman. We're delighted to have him on board. He proved to be a very likeable 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," said Director of Cricket Martyn Moxon.

"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."