Indian cricketers Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara will return to county cricket in England after the conclusion of the series consisting of two matches against the West Indies next month.
While Ajinkya Rahane will join Leicestershire for a few matches in the second division in the County championship, which is the domestic red ball competition in England, number three batsman Cheteshwar Pujara will be going back to Sussex for yet another stint.
It must be remembered that Cheteshwar Pujara was playing in the English county cricket before he left them for the world test championship final against Australia played at the oval in London earlier this month.
According to a report in ESPNcricinfo, Ajinkya Rahane, who made a successful return to test cricket during the world test championship final making scores of 89 and 46 in the two innings of the match which India lost by a heavy margin of $209, what is supposed to join the county side than he is going to.
With India still waiting on the return of Shreyas Iyer to the Test cricket team, or rather, competitive cricket after a back injury, Ajinkya Rahane is expected to continue to feature in the middle order which has been lacking runs and resultantly losing India many matches in the longest format.
Before the final of the world test championship, India’s head coach Rahul Dravid had expressed that a successful result for Ajinkya Rahane could mean a longer second stint for the right-handed batsman in the testing, from which he was dropped earlier in 2022.
The right-handed middle order batsman Ajinkya Rahane had signed a deal with places to share in January this year and was supposed to play eight first-class matches as well as the entire 50 over Royal London cup which runs from June to September. However, Ajinkya Rahane ended up having an extremely successful stint in the Indian Premier League 2022 for the winning side Chennai Super Kings, playing a vital role in their campaign on the bank of which he was called back to the Indian Test cricket team.
A source from the BCCI told PTI, “Ajinkya, after the two Tests in the West Indies [scheduled to end on July 24], is supposed to fly directly to England and join Leicestershire for the remainder of the season. He will play the Royal London Cup in August and a possible four county games in September as he is unlikely to be a part of the white-ball scheme of things.”
Meanwhile, middle order mainstay for Indian cricket team, Cheteshwar Pujara will once again return to English county cricket after the completion of the test series between India and West Indies which is starting on July 12. Cheteshwar Pujara is not a part of India’s limited overs cricket which gives them a lot of opportunity to play in the English county circuit, where he has scored a lot of runs that have kept him in a high demand in England.