Only before few hours of scheduled departure, Sri Lanka U19 Team’s West Indies tour has faced a big hurdle, as US Embassy has rejected 7 Players Visa applications, Cricket Age reliably learns.
The team was scheduled to leave for West Indies tomorrow morning to take part in U19 Tri-series, involving home side and England.
According to sources, US Embassy has rejected 4 players visa applications from the selected 15-members squad and a total of 7 players from 33 players, for whom SLC applied for visas.
When Cricket Age inquired the matter with US Embassy, it learnt that visas were rejected citing ineligibility under US immigration act.
“Out of 33 submitted to the Embassy, only 7 players applications have been rejected under immigration act” a source at US Ambassy told Cricket Age.
SLC, however, is still trying to keep tour alive. Accordingly, SLC CEO Ashley De Silva had a meeting with senior selectors and U19 team manager Farveez Maharoof today morning.
“We are still hopeful of the tour. We are reapplying for rejected visas. In the meantime, a squad was picked with players who got visas. Team will not depart tomorrow. We will wait until Monday and dates will be notified later accordingly” the top SLC official added.
However, if the said players won’t be able to get visas, it will leave SLC in quandary. Cricket Age understands that out of 7 players, 4 are wicket keepers, so the team will have to face many questions.
“It’s impossible to travel without wicket keepers. Once we will get US Embassy reply on Monday, we will be able to take a call” the top official added further.
