Shoaib Bashir has been granted a visa and is due to travel to join up with his England team-mates in India this weekend.
Bashir, a 20-year-old British Muslim of Pakistani heritage, was the only member of England’s touring party to experience a significant delay over his application and remained grounded after a training camp in Abu Dhabi while his team-mates transferred to Hyderabad.
The England and Wales Cricket Board had hoped the matter could be resolved in the United Arab Emirates – where its managing director of operations Stuart Hooper remained with Bashir – but a solution was not found, forcing the spin bowler to travel back to London.
His visa was subsequently granted in London, but Bashir will miss the first Test due to the delay.
The ECB stated: “We’re glad the situation has now been resolved.”
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Speaking on the Sky Sports Cricket Podcast, Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain review England’s first Test selection
England captain Ben Stokes remained visibly disgruntled by Bashir’s treatment as he gave his pre-match press conference and revealed he initially suggested the squad should not fly to India without their team-mate.
That idea did not last long and he said there was “never a chance” of boycotting the first Test.
“When I first found the news out in Abu Dhabi, I did say we shouldn’t fly until Bash gets his visa but that was a little bit tongue in cheek,” he said.
“I know it’s a way bigger thing, doing that. That was probably just [my] emotions around the whole thing. There was never a chance that we were not going to travel around this but Bash knows he’s had our full support.
“I’m pretty devastated that Bash has had to go through this. As a leader, as a captain, when one of your team-mates is affected by something like that you do get a bit emotional.”
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Former England seam bowler Steven Finn says the upcoming tour of India will be the toughest test the side has faced
Lancashire’s Tom Hartley will make his England debut in the first Test against India in a team dominated by spinners.
Left-armer Hartley joins the established Jack Leach and teenage leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed in an attack that suggests the tourists expect lavish turn, with Joe Root a fourth spin option.
Mark Wood has been picked as the only seam bowler in the side, meaning England’s record wicket-taker James Anderson will sit the match out in Hyderabad.
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Graeme Swann spoke to Hussain and Atherton on the revamped Sky Sports Cricket podcast, offering his advice to the England squad ahead of their series in India
Ollie Pope, Foakes, Ahmed and Leach all come into the side having not been involved in England’s last Test against Australia at The Oval last summer.
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