HYDERABAD, January 24

Spinner Shoaib Bashir has been ruled out of England’s opening Test against India following a visa delay, now resolved, an episode that has marred the build-up to the five-match series between the sides from tomorrow.

Bashir, who is of Pakistani heritage, returned to London from Abu Dhabi, where England trained before arriving in India, and will now join the squad this weekend after his visa issue was resolved on Wednesday.

“Shoaib Bashir has now received his visa, and is due to travel to join up with the team in India this weekend,” England’s cricket board (ECB) said on social media platform X. “We’re glad the situation has now been resolved.”

Earlier, Stokes did not hide his disappointment in his pre-match press conference but said they never considered boycotting the match over the treatment meted out to the Somerset spinner.

“I’m pretty devastated that Bash has had to go through this,” Stokes said. “As a leader, as a captain, when one of your teammates is affected by something like that you do get a bit emotional.”

India captain Rohit Sharma was also sympathetic towards the uncapped 20-year-old. “I feel for him, honestly,” Rohit said. “It’s not easy for anyone, it could be one of our guys wanting to come to England and being denied.” — Reuters