India Spinner Jayant Yadav's County Championship Stint Delayed Due To Visa Issues

The start of India off-spinner Jayant Yadav's County Championship stint with Middlesex has been delayed due to visa issues, said the club on Monday. On September 1, Middlesex had announced that Yadav will be available for the club’s match against Essex at Chelmsford starting from September 4.

But Middlesex on Monday said Yadav has been unable to travel to the UK and join the club at Chelmsford due to a delay in the issuing of his work visa.

“The Club paid to expedite the application of Yadav’s visa and received confirmation from the UK Visa and Immigration Office on Friday 1st September that everything had been approved and issued.”

“The British Embassy however, in Delhi, did not release his travel documentation in time for the player to board the plane he was booked onto over the weekend. We are extremely disappointed with the delay in Yadav’s passport being returned, which has led to him being withdrawn from the squad for this week’s match,” it said in a statement.

Jayant Yadav, 33, has taken 16 wickets at an average of 29.06 in six Test matches for India, with his last appearance coming against Sri Lanka in March 2022. His best figures of 4-49 were against New Zealand at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai in December 2021.

With the bat, Yadav has the highest Test score of 104, coming against England in 2016 at Mumbai, and overall, he averages 31 with the bat in nine Test innings.

In his first-class career, Yadav has picked an impressive 205 wickets in 75 matches, with best bowling figures of 7-58 for his domestic side Haryana, while hitting three centuries.

In last year’s county season, Yadav took 12 wickets in two appearances for Warwickshire, before signing up for Middlesex this year for its last four red-ball matches. Middlesex will now be hoping that Yadav is available for their remaining red-ball games of the season against Lancashire, Warwickshire and Nottinghamshire.

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Apart from Jayant Yadav, Cheteshwar Pujara and Jaydev Unadkat will be plying their trade for Sussex while B. Sai Sudharsan has joined Surrey and Umesh Yadav will be turning out for Essex for the remaining time in the County Championship.