Pretty devastated that Shoaib Bashir has to go through this: England captain Ben Stokes

Hyderabad: England captain Ben Stokes said he was pretty devastated over the visa issues preventing uncapped off-spinner Shoaib Bashir from traveling to India for the Test series starting on Thursday, and revealed suggested the squad should not fly without him, though it was never a serious thought in the first place. Bashir, 20, is of Pakistani heritage, and was the only member of the touring team to not receive his visa in time for the series. As a result, he was stuck in Abu Dhabi, the venue for the visitors’ pre-series camp, while the rest of the England team travelled to Hyderabad for the Test series opener starting on Thursday at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.

With Bashir, born in the United Kingdom, now flying back to England from Abu Dhabi to appear in the Indian high commission office in London in person for his visa application paperwork, it means that he is effectively unavailable for selection in the first Test.

“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. 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.

“I’m pretty devastated that Bash has had to go through this. As a leader, as a captain, when one of your team-mates is affected by something like that you do get a bit emotional. I know he’s back in London and a lot of people are jumping through hoops to try and get this through quicker. Hopefully we’re going to see him here over the weekend,” said a disgruntled Stokes in the pre-match press conference.

India captain Rohit Sharma also felt bad for Bashir and hoped for him to be in the country soon. “I feel for him honestly. Unfortunately I don’t sit in the visa office to give you more details. But I hope he can make it here quickly and enjoy our country and play some cricket as well. It’s not easy for anyone, it could be one of our guys wanting to come to England and being denied.”

Previously on Wednesday afternoon, England announced they would be fielding three spinners in Jack Leach, Rehan Ahmed and debutant Tom Hartley, along with part-time off-spin of Joe Root and a lone seam bowling option in Mark Wood, meaning James Anderson was left out.

“It’s very exciting for Tom to make his Test debut. I’m looking forward to seeing him out there and captaining him. He’s been very impressive in the build-up in Abu Dhabi. He bowls at a very difficult pace to be able to handle out here and he’s someone who gets a lot of natural variation. In India, that is sometimes the hardest thing to face,” added Stokes on being excited by left-arm spinner Hartley’s debut. IANS

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