Gambhir to return to Essex

India batsman Gautam Gambhir will return to Essex to play the remainder of the county season. He had to return to India on September 2 because of family reasons, but Gambhir will rejoin the squad on Tuesday in Canterbury, where Essex play a Championship game against Kent from Wednesday.

Gambhir has not played for India since the home ODIs against England in January. A bout of jaundice ruled him out of the subsequent Test series against Australia after he was picked for the first match. Gambhir played the IPL but struggled to find consistency as Kolkata Knight Riders, the team he had led to the title in 2012, finished mid-table.

Aiming to make a comeback to the India squad, Gambhir opted to travel to England for his maiden county stint. He began with 31 against Northamptonshire in a championship match, and then failed to score a half-century in two Yorkshire Bank 40-over matches. He made a duck in the first innings against Gloucestershire but bounced back to score a century in the second.

Essex still have a good chance to get promoted to Division One but for that they will need to finish top two in the table. They are third at the moment and have three matches left: against Kent, followed by Glamorgan and the final match against Hampshire from September 24.*