Cheteshwar Pujara’s first apperance for Sussex at the start of the County Championship in the United Kingdom has been delayed by a week because of issues in visa clearance faced by the experienced Indian batter.
Veteran India batter Pujara was expected to reach England in time for his first game against Nottinghamshire on April 7. But he is now expected to begin his journey with his new side via their next Championship encounter versus Derbyshire scheduled to be held on April 14.
The club confirmed the development on April 4 evening via a statement where their performance director, Keith Greenfield, stated the renegotiations after a change in the player’s county plans with them have led to the delay.
“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 50-over matches, and this subsequently changed the visa requirements,”
Greenfield said.
Sussex could confirm, however, that the Nottinghamshire encounter will be the only one Pujara will skip from his original deal with the club. The stoic right-hand batter will be playing all five of the other first-leg Championship matches and then return in time for the Royal London One-Day Cup, England’s premier List A 50-over competition, and also play some additional first-class matches in the back half of the summer.
It is understood that Pujara’s visa clearance issue is one indirect byproduct of the crisis in Ukraine following the attack from Russia.
“The Ukraine crisis has meant that the Home Office has redirected their resources to help with the displacement of Ukrainian citizens,”
said Greenfield, stating it is really unfortunate that Pujara has fallen at the wrong end of the world political climate for no fault of his.
Sussex’s head coach Ian Salisbury said Pujara’s absence for the first game of the season is “extremely disappointing” as they miss a player of his experience and quality for the all-important fixture.
Dropped from India’s Test squad in the aftermath of the team’s 2-1 series loss in South Africa, Pujara is eyeing a national comeback via some difficult runs in England. The 34-year-old has played 95 Tests for India with 6,713 runs at an average of 43.87.
