England faced another visa trouble on their ongoing tour of India as their young spinner Rehan Ahmed was stopped from leaving Hirasar airport in Rajkot. The leg-spinner did not get the permission to leave the airport as he did not have the right paperwork.
After the second Test in Vishakhapatnam, the England team had left India for Abu Dhabi. However, when they decided to return to India, Rehan Ahmed was prohibited from re-entering the country because he only held a single-entry visa. Later, the local officials managed to find a short-term solution for the youngster and the England camp is hopeful that the matter will be sorted in the next 24 hours, according to ESPNcricinfo.
This is the second time on the ongoing tour that England had to face a visa issue. Earlier, spinner Shoaib Bashir’s arrival in India was delayed by a week due to paperwork. By the time, he got the permission to enter India, the fourth day of the first Test was underway. He had to leave for the UK from Abu Dhabi to get his visa stamped before entering India.
“The England team has been advised to process the visa again which will be happening in the next two days,” a BCCI official was quoted as saying in the Hindustan Times. “The player was allowed to enter the country with the rest of the team and he will be appearing in practice on Tuesday.”
Rehan Ahmed in the series so far:
Rehan Ahmed has played in both the Tests of the five-match IND vs ENG 2024 series so far. In two games, the leg-spinner has picked up eight wickets. He has also made some handy contributions with the bat, scoring 70 runs. With Jack Leach ruled out of the entire series, Rehan Ahmed is the most experienced spinner in the English team although he has played only 3 Tests so far.
Meanwhile, the five-match series is currently locked at 1-1. England won the first Test by 28 runs before India won the second game by 106 runs. The third Test is scheduled to be played from February 15 in Rajkot.