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.
