England skipper Ben Stokes said Wednesday he was "devastated" visa issues had stopped teammate Shoaib Bashir from entering India for a five-Test series, as his counterpart said he hoped the matter would be "quickly" resolved.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Britain-born Bashir, a 20-year-old of Pakistani heritage, was unable to join the rest of the squad flying to India from a training camp in Abu Dhabi ahead of the opener in Hyderabad following a delay in his visa application.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"I'm pretty devastated that Bash has had to go through this," Stokes told reporters in Hyderabad.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"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," the England captain said.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"I know it's a way bigger thing, doing that. That was probably just (my) emotions around the whole thing.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"There was never a chance that we were not going to travel around this, but Bash knows he's had our full support."<\/p>\r\n\r\n