England spinner Shoaib Bashir has finally received his visa to travel to India to play the Test series. However, the uncapped spinner will miss the series opener against India starting Thursday in Hyderabad as he is due to travel and is expected to join the team this weekend.
“Shoaib Bashir has now received his visa, and is due to travel to join up with the team in India this weekend,” the ECB released a statement.
“We’re glad the situation has now been resolved,” it added.
Britain-born Bashir, a 20-year-old of Pakistani heritage, travelled with the England team to Abu Dhabi for the training camp but was unable to join them in Hyderabad for the series opener following a delay in his visa application.
The Somerset off-spinner had to return to London to sort his visa issues.
Meanwhile, England Test captain Ben Stokes expressed his frustration on the matter and
“I’m pretty devastated that Bash has had to go through this,” Stokes told reporters in Hyderabad.
“When I first found the news out in Abu Dhabi, I did say we shouldn’t fly until Bash gets his visa, but that was a little bit tongue in cheek,” the England captain said.
He further stated that the 20-year-old has the team’s full support.
“I know it’s a way bigger thing, doing that. That was probably just (my) emotions around the whole thing. There was never a chance that we were not going to travel around this, but Bash knows he’s had our full support,” he added.
Bashir, 20, was a surprise selection for the tour given he has taken a mere 10 first-class wickets at an expensive average of 67.
But the England management were impressed by his performances for the second-string Lions in the UAE and they believe his high release point, allied to an ability to gain sharp turn, will make him effective on Indian pitches renowned for assisting spinners.
