Rehan Ahmed delayed at Rajkot Airport as England visa points resurface
England encountered but extra visa bother on their tour of India after Rehan Ahmed was stopped from leaving Hirasar airport, Rajkot, as a result of he was not in possession of the suitable paperwork.
Sportstar reported on Monday that Rehan had been prohibited from re-entering India after England’s mid-series break in Abu Dhabi as a result of he solely held a single-entry visa. Following a delay, native authorities had been in a position to come to a short-term answer for the legspinner, with England optimistic the difficulty can be sorted absolutely within the subsequent 24 hours. All travelling squad members and assist employees had been on the group lodge in Rajkot by Monday night.
The subject comes weeks after Shoaib Bashir’s arrival in India was delayed by every week due to the late issuing of his visa, which resulted in him lacking the primary Test in Hyderabad. Bashir, who has Pakistani heritage, finally arrived on January 28 – day 4 of the primary Test – having initially remained in Abu Dhabi, the place England had their pre-tour coaching camp, earlier than returning to the UK to get his visa stamped. He went on to make his debut within the second Test at Visakhapatnam.
Like Bashir, Rehan was born in England and is of Pakistani heritage, however had no preliminary bother coming into the nation due to a visa he had secured in October as a stand-by for England’s 50-over World Cup squad. As such, that is extremely prone to have been a clerical oversight by the ECB, provided that the white-ball squad had remained in India throughout their World Cup marketing campaign, which ended on the group levels.
“The England team has been advised to process the visa again which will be happening in the next two days,” a BCCI official was quoted as saying within the Hindustan Times. “The player was allowed to enter the country with the rest of the team and he will be appearing in practice on Tuesday.”
Either method, it’s a downside that ought to not have arisen given the high-profile nature of Bashir’s ordeal, and the very fact England’s six-day break within the UAE between the second and third Test, which begins on Thursday, had been on the cardboard for months.
Ollie Robinson revealed earlier on Monday that he solely acquired his visa on the morning that England initially flew to Hyderabad from Abu Dhabi final month, having heard the earlier evening from group supervisor Wayne Bentley {that a} paperwork error had prompted a delay. “He said, ‘your visa has been denied’ or something,” Robinson stated on his podcast, Chatting Balls.
“There was an error at the ECB – I think they must have just put an initial wrong, or one letter must have been wrong. It didn’t pass. He was like, ‘you’re not coming to India – you have to stay here for another night… it could be two nights, could be three nights, don’t know how long it’s going to take.’ Luckily, I woke up in the morning to a nice message from Wayne saying ‘visa’s here’.”
Rehan has featured in each matches within the collection thus far, taking eight wickets at 36.37 and scoring 70 runs at 17.80, which included a cameo of 23 at No.3 in England’s failed chase of 399 within the second Test.