Shoaib Bashir has flown back to the UK and been ruled out of the first Test against India starting on Thursday in Hyderabad after a visa delay that prevented England’s rookie spinner from travelling to the country with his new teammates.
Just 20 years old and on his first senior England tour, the Surrey‑born Bashir has become the latest cricketer of Pakistani heritage to be hit with a visa delay en route to India. Moeen Ali and Saqib Mahmood have had similar experiences in the past, as did Australia’s Usman Khawaja before his side’s Test tour last year.
England believed the problem – one that meant Bashir was unable to travel on from the team’s pre‑series camp in Abu Dhabi – would be resolved in time for the Somerset spinner to join the squad on Tuesday. Instead, he must now return home, where his British passport was issued, with this weekend the revised target for his arrival in India.
Speaking before the first of five matches in the series, with his side aiming to end India’s 11‑year unbeaten record at home, 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.”
Though just six first-class matches into his professional career, Bashir was in contention for a debut after the off-spinner impressed during England’s preparations and as part of a Lions training camp in Abu Dhabi late last year.
But despite applying for his visa on 11 December – and every other application for England’s touring party having been approved in good time – Bashir has returned home and faces further paperwork. A representative from the England and Wales Cricket Board was due to meet him on arrival in London and assist.
The British government would not comment on Bashir’s individual case. But a Downing Street spokesperson said: “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.”
Bashir’s absence means Lancashire’s Tom Hartley could make his Test debut, operating as a second left-arm spinner alongside the returning Jack Leach. Rehan Ahmed is the alternative, the leg-spinner also of Pakistani heritage but having had a visa in place since being listed as a standby player for the World Cup last October.
While there is obvious frustration within the England camp at the Bashir situation, the ECB has held off from voicing any public criticism. The Board of Control for Cricket in India was said to be lobbying the relevant authorities but, despite strong links to India’s ruling BJP party, the governing body has been unable to expedite matters.
Elsewhere, Stokes has confirmed that Ben Foakes will return as the side’s wicketkeeper after being squeezed out of last summer’s Ashes plans by Jonny Bairstow’s return from an ankle injury. The loss of Harry Brook, who has flown home for personal reasons, means Bairstow will play as a specialist batter at No 5.
Dan Lawrence, named as the replacement for Brook, has now arrived in India but will only feature if injury or illness rules out another batter before the toss on Thursday at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.
