Indian left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmed, who had joined joined English domestic team Essex for the County Championship and One Day Cup until the end of the 2025 season, cut short his stint in England and pulled out of the Championship, citing personal reasons, announced the English club on Monday.
In a statement released by Essex, the club confirmed Ahmed is travelling back to India. “Essex Cricket can confirm that Khaleel Ahmed has made the decision to return home for personal reasons and will be ending his time with the Club. While we are disappointed to see him leave, we fully support Khaleel’s decision and are grateful for the contributions he made during his time with us. Everyone at Essex Cricket wishes Khaleel all the very best for the future,” reads the statement.
Khaleel represented Essex in only two matches. He picked just four wickets in those two games at an average of 64.50 after signing a contract with Essex in June.
This is the second instance of an Indian cricketer pulling out of the County contract midway in the last two weeks. Earlier, India batter Ruturaj Gaikwad backed out of the County Championship deal that he had signed up for with Yorkshire in June. The Chennai Super Kings captain was due to appear for his debut on Tuesday, but has now opted out of the deal due to personal reasons.
Yorkshire had also shown disappointment in Gaikwad’s decision but said they hope everything is okay. “Unfortunately Gaikwad’s not coming now for personal reasons,” Yorkshire head coach Anthony McGrath had said. “We’re not going to have him for Scarborough or for the rest of the season. So that’s disappointing. I can’t tell you anything about the reasons why, but we hope that everything’s ok.
“We’ve literally just found out. We’re working behind the scenes on what we can do. But it’s only two or three days away, so I’m not sure what we can do at the moment. We’re working to try and get a possible replacement, but time pressure is the issue. I can’t give you anything more than that at the moment,” McGrath added.
Yorkshire ended up signing Pakistan batter Imam-ul-Haq as the replacement. The Essex side is yet to announce Khaleel’s replacement.
