Varun Chopra to leave Warwickshire at end of the season

Former captain Varun Chopra will leave Warwickshire at the end of the season.

The opening batsman, who joined the club from Essex ahead of the 2010 season, was skipper until January this year and was Warwickshire's top scorer in four out of the last five seasons, scoring over 10,000 runs across all formats.

The 29-year-old, who led the Bears to the NatWest Blast title in 2014, has been dropped from the county's white ball team this summer and was out of contract at the end of the season.

A club statement read: "Both parties believe that now is a good time for Varun to accept a fresh challenge and he is now able to talk to other counties in order to realise his own career ambitions.

"In the meantime, he remains fully committed to the club and will continue to perform at his best through to the end of the season.

"Whilst everyone at the club is fully aware of his capabilities as a top order batsman, there is also a need to look at the development of the squad in order to be able to maintain a challenge on all fronts in the coming years.

"Everyone at Edgbaston would like to thank Varun for his contribution to Warwickshire over the last seven seasons."