Srinagar: England captain Ben Stokes has expressed his anger and frustration over Visa issuance delay to young spinner Shoaib Bashir who was forced to return back to United Kingdom.
Shoaib Bashir on had to return back to England from UAE after delay in Visa ahead of England vs India first Test in Hyderabad that starts on Thursday.
Addressing the media ahead of the first match in the series, Ben Stokes said, “I’m devastated for him. As captain, I find it particularly frustrating that we have picked a player and he’s not with us because of visa issues”.
“We announced that squad in mid-December, and now Bash finds himself without a visa to get here. I didn’t want this type of situation to be his first experience of what it’s like to be in the England Test team. I feel for him. But he’s not the first cricketer to go through this; I have played with a lot of people who have had the same issues.”
Meanwhile as per a report , The UK government would not comment on Bashir’s individual case. However, a Downing Street spokesperson added: “More broadly, we do expect India to treat British citizens fairly at all times in its visa processes. And we have previously raised issues of British citizens with Pakistani heritage … we’ve raised the issues that some have raised about their experience applying for visas with the Indian High Commission in London.”