Tags: England tour of India 2024,
India,
England,
Rohit Gurunath Sharma,
Benjamin Andrew Stokes,
Shoaib Bashir
Printed on: Jan 25, 2024
Indian captain Rohit Sharma and his England counterpart Ben Stokes supplied their assist to younger England off-spinner Shoaib Bashir after his arrival in India was delayed on account of visa points. Whereas Rohit mentioned that he feels for the teenager, Stokes admitted that it was irritating to not have him with the squad.
England will kick off their tour of India with the primary Check on the Rajiv Gandhi Worldwide Stadium in Hyderabad beginning Thursday, January 25. The guests, nonetheless, didn’t have the providers of Bashir earlier than confirming their taking part in XI. He was requested to fly again house to kind out the visa points.
On the pre-match press convention on Wednesday, each Rohit and Stokes empathized with Bashir’s plight.
“I really feel for him. He’s coming, I feel, for the primary time. Sadly I do not sit in visa workplace to make the choice. Hopefully, he’ll make it right here quickly,” the Indian captain mentioned.
As per the most recent replace from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), 20-year-old Bashir has acquired his visa, and is because of journey to affix up with the crew in India this weekend.
Earlier, talking in regards to the matter, Stokes clarified that his thought of not going to India till the visa challenge is sorted was a tongue-in-cheek one.
“Once I first discovered the information out in Abu Dhabi, I did say we should not fly till Bash will get his visa. However that was a little bit bit tongue in cheek. I do know it is a approach larger factor than doing that. That was most likely simply feelings round the entire thing. I am fairly devastated that Bash has needed to undergo this,” Stokes admitted.
He had earlier acknowledged that Bashir had the crew’s full assist as he tried to get the matter over his visa sorted out. Stokes additionally added that he was bit emotional on studying what his younger teammate was going via.
“As a frontrunner, as a captain, when one in every of your teammates is affected by one thing like that, you get a bit emotional. I do know he is again in London and lots of people are leaping via hoops to try to get this via faster…Bash is aware of he is had our full assist,” the England captain mentioned.
“, we had introduced our squad mid-December. Now, it is January 24 and we nonetheless do not have a cause for Shoaib’s absence right here…hopefully, we will recover from and he also can simply consider the remainder of his tour,” he added.
England have named their taking part in XI for the Hyderabad Check, leaving out veteran pacer James Anderson and choosing three spinners.
–By A Cricket Correspondent
