England spinner Shoaib Bashir has been granted an Indian visa and could possibly be again with the squad by the weekend.
The 20-year-old, who’s of Pakistani heritage, was initially left in Abu Dhabi when England travelled from their coaching camp to Hyderabad on Sunday.
On Tuesday, it emerged that he had returned to the UK, and the issuing of the visa was confirmed on Wednesday.
“We’re glad the state of affairs has now been resolved,” mentioned the England and Wales Cricket Board.
“Shoaib Bashir has now acquired his visa, and is because of journey to hitch up with the group in India this weekend.”
A spokesperson for the Indian International Workplace mentioned: “The visa has been issued by London.
“There are guidelines and laws governing the issuance of an Indian visa. The identical have been being utilized on this case.”
Somerset off-spinner Bashir will miss the primary Check in opposition to India, which begins on Thursday.
Talking earlier on Wednesday, England captain Ben Stokes mentioned there was “by no means an opportunity” England would boycott the opening match of the five-Check sequence in help of Bashir.
He admitted he had floated the thought of a boycott among the many group, however mentioned it was “tongue in cheek”.
“As a pacesetter, as a captain, when one in every of your team-mates is affected by one thing like that you simply do get a bit emotional,” Stokes mentioned. “I am devastated for him.”
The uncapped Bashir, born in Surrey, was a shock call-up to the England squad for this tour, having performed solely six first-class matches.
There are long-running political tensions between India and Pakistan, and he isn’t the primary cricketer of Pakistani origin to battle to achieve entry to India.
Australia opener Usman Khawaja, who was born in Pakistan, had his arrival for a Check tour final 12 months delayed, whereas all the Pakistan squad for final 12 months’s World Cup in India confronted related delays.
BBC Check Match Particular commentator Aatif Nawaz, whose household are from Pakistan, additionally confronted delays in receiving a visa for the World Cup and in the end didn’t journey to the event.
Bashir’s fellow England spinner, Rehan Ahmed, can be of Pakistani origin however has a visa from final 12 months as he acted as reserve for the World Cup squad.
On Tuesday, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak mentioned the federal government expects British residents to be handled pretty by India.
“I am unable to converse to the specifics of this case. However extra broadly now we have beforehand raised problems with this sort with the excessive fee. Now we have been clear that we count on India to deal with British residents pretty always in its visa processes,” mentioned the spokesperson.
