England cricket team runs into more visa issues during tour of India

England cricket team runs into more visa issues during tour of India

RAJKOT, India (AP) — England’s cricket team has run into more visa issues on its tour of India.

Rehan Ahmed was initially denied entry when England’s squad returned to India on Monday after a mid-series break in the United Arab Emirates. The spinner only held a single-entrance electronic visa, which he used ahead of the start of t he test series that stands at 1-1.

Ahmed was granted an emergency two-day visa, allowing him to train in Rajkot on Tuesday in preparation for the third test that starts on Thursday. He has applied for a multi-entrance visa.

“The correct visa should be processed and issued in the coming days,” England said.

Ahmed’s place in the team might be in jeopardy anyway, with England possibly switching to two seamers for the third test. That would mean one of the three spinners used in the second test — Ahmed, Shoaib Bashir and Tom Hartley — missing out.

The start of the tour was marred by visa issues for Bashir, a British Muslim of Pakistani heritage who was initially unable to secure a visa from Indian authorities. That sparked British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s office to comment that it expects British citizens to be treated fairly by India.

The 20-year-old Bashir was grounded following England’s pre-series training camp in Abu Dhabi while his teammates transferred to Hyderabad ahead of the first test. He had to return to London and eventually received approval, arriving in India midway through the first test.

Ahmed, like Bashir, was born in Britain and is of Pakistani heritage. His situation is different, though, because he was already in possession of an Indian visa after being placed on standby for England’s 50-over Cricket World Cup campaign.

“We’re getting around Rehan, he’s in good spirits in training today,” England batter Ollie Pope said.

“It was sorted fairly quickly yesterday but it’s all going on behind the scenes and hopefully within the next day or so, it’s all sorted.”

The importance of Bashir and Ahmed on this tour has grown after England’s senior spinner, Jack Leach, was ruled out of the series because of a knee injury.

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AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket

The Associated Press