NEW DELHI: England cricket team’s forthcoming white-ball tour has been hit by a hurdle as a report says that Saqib Mahmood is yet to be granted visa and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has been forced to cancel his flight just days before first game.
England are to tour India for 5 T20I and 3 ODI series with the first game of the series scheduled to be held at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on January 22.
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According to a Daily Mail report, Mahmood was scheduled to depart for a pace bowling camp in the United Arab Emirates last Thursday but it is still unclear if he would be able to join the tour, with his passport still with the Indian Embassy.
Mahmood, who was born to British Pakistani parents, has been in limbo for the past few days, waiting for a decision, and is still unsure if he will be permitted to go with the rest of England players when they leave this Friday.
While his England teammates Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, and Mark Wood are training in Abu Dhabi with fast-bowling coach James Anderson, the 27-year-old is unable to bowl outside due to freezing temperatures in the UK.
During England’s most recent white-ball tour to the West Indies in November, Mahmood surpassed the mark for the most powerplay wickets taken by an England bowler in a men’s series, taking nine wickets in three games and was named Player of the Series.
The purpose of the trip to the UAE was to enable England’s seamers get used to the conditions before the white-ball tour to India and also the Champions Trophy that follows in Pakistan and the UAE the following month.
Despite applying far in advance, the ECB was unable to secure a visa for Mahmood to travel to India as a member of an England Lions side in 2019 because of his Pakistani origins. Last year, Lancashire traveled to India without Mahmood after failing to apply for a visa.
Last year, Shoaib Bashir faced similar problems because of his Pakistani origins. He had to fly back to London on the day of England’s Test series against India to get his visa, while Rehan Ahmed was held in Rajkot because he only had a single-entry visa.