Cheteshwar Pujara will have to wait for his county debut match for Sussex. He will miss out on the opening match of his side's opening County Championship match of the season. Pujara's visa got hold-up incidentally and hence he will have to wait until next week.
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Russia's invasion of Ukraine was a major reason indirectly behind Pujara's visa hold up. Pujara was supposed to debut for Sussex, starting Thursday, after getting dropped from the Indian Test team against Sri Lanka. The plan was that Pujara will play the first 6 Championship games of Sussex and will later return for the Royal London Cup in the summer. Also according to the club's statement, he had "some additional four-day games" to play.
Before Pujara's visa issues, the schedule was him debuting against Nottinghamshire on Thursday. But now he will remain unavailable until the match against Derbyshire next week.
Keith Greenfield, Sussex's performance director, said, "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. 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."
