South African leg-spinner Imran Tahir was shamefully humiliated and expelled by Pakistan Consulate in Birmingham on Monday, when he went to get the visa to play for World XI in Pakistan. Tahir, who is a part of the 14-member squad, with players from seven Test-playing countries will play three T20Is at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on September 12, 13 and 15 against Pakistan, titled as Independence Cup.
He took to Twitter and expressed his disappointment.
“I have undergone a very unfortunate situation in the Pakistani Consulate Birmingham today. I had visited Consulate to secure our Pakistani visas with my family members. After going through the painful trauma of waiting for long 5 hours I was expelled by the staff explaining that the office hours are over and they are closing the Consulate. It was only after the intervention of High Commissioner Ibn e Abbas who instructed the staff that we were issued visas. It’s an irony that being Pakistani origin South African Cricketer and intended to play in World XI was treated so miserably. Hats off to High Commissioner Ibn e Abbas who rescued me,” wrote Tahir.
Tahir has played 20 Tests for South Africa and has 57 wickets to his name, and has also picked up 132 wickets in 78 ODI matches.
