England’s 20-year-old spinner Shoaib Bashir is not available for selection for the first Test in Hyderabad against India. Surrey-born Bashir, whose parents are of Pakistan origin encountered visa issues ahead of the Test series and could not travel from UAE to India with the rest of the squad. On the eve of the first Test, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma said that he feels for the young spinner.
“I feel for him. He is coming (to India) for the first time. I am not in the visa office to give you the details (laughs),” Rohit replied to a query in the pre-match press conference.
“It’s not easy for anyone, it could be one of our guys wanting to come to England and being denied.”
Meanwhile, Bashir has travelled back to England. He has been instructed to travel to London with his passport and get the necessary documents from the Indian High Commission.
Bashir is not the only overseas player of Pakistan descent to face issues. Australian opener Usman Khawaja’s visa was delayed before the previous edition of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Similarly, England all-rounder Moeen Ali faced visa issues as well.
Stokes gets emotional
Bashir not flying to India had a major impact on England captain Ben Stokes. The all-rounder even contemplated the idea of not flying to India until his teammate's visa problems were resolved. However, he admitted that he would not have put the first Test at risk.
“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," Stokes told the reporters in Hyderabad.
Hartley set for debut
In Bashir's absence, England have named Tom Hartley as the debutant spinner. They have decided to go in with three speciallist spinners in Jack Leach, Rehan Ahmed, and Hartley. They have included just one pacer in the side. It will be interesting to see who opens the bowling with Mark Wood. Meanwhile, there is a big question mark over whether Stokes will bowl in his first match after injury or not.
Hartley who claims that he can bowl like Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel has 40 wickets from 20 first-class games including one five-wicket haul.
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