England off-spinner Shoaib Bashir was on Wednesday granted visa to travel to India for the five-match Test series beginning from Thursday, announced the country’s cricket board.
Bashir will now travel to India from London this weekend to join his teammates and can be in contention for an England Test debut for the second match at Visakhapatnam.
“Shoaib Bashir has now received his visa, and is due to travel to join up with the team in India this weekend. We’re glad the situation has now been resolved,” said the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in a statement.
The delay in issuance of an Indian visa to rookie off-spinner Bashir had snowballed into a major controversy ahead of the first Test in Hyderabad.
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England skipper Ben Stokes called the turn of events “frustrating” while a British government spokesperson demanded “fair” treatment of the youngster.
The 20-year-old Pakistan-origin cricketer, who plays for Somerset in the English county, had to head back home from the team’s Abu Dhabi training base after a prolonged wait to secure an Indian visa.
“When I first found the news out in Abu Dhabi, I did say we shouldn’t fly until Bash gets his visa,” Stokes said in the pre-match press conference ahead of the first Test.
“But that was a little bit tongue in cheek. I know it’s a way bigger thing than doing that. That was probably just emotions around the whole thing.
“I’m pretty devastated that Bash has had to go through this,” he added.
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