Veteran Indian batsman Cheteshwar Pujara had to suffer a major setback after his debut for Sussex was delayed due to visa issues.
Pujara was supposed to join the Sussex team to play the County Championship but the current crisis in Ukraine has caused the visa issues. The 34-year-old batter will not be available for his side’s first County Championship match. Sussex will play against Nottinghamshire in the first match of the season.
Notably, the Gujarat-born batter was not selected for Indian team's recent home Test series against Sri Lanka. Another veteran Indian batter Ajinkya Rahane was also dropped from India’s recent Test series against Sri Lanka.
Pujara had decided to play in the first six County Championship matches for Sussex. He was slated to return later in the season for the Royal London Cup and additional four-day matches.
Official statement
The club recently released a statement and confirmed that Pujara “will be here at the back end of this week."
"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 said in the statement.
"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,” the statement further added.
Head coach 'extremely disappointed'
Ian Salisbury, head coach of Sussex expressed his disappointment but he also said that the team “must move on and now focus on the game ahead of” them.
"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," Sussex head coach Ian Salisbury said.
Notably, Pujara was recently demoted in Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) central contracts from Grade A+ to Grade B. Other players like Rahane and Ishant Sharma were also dropped from Grade A+.
