England's Stokes Devastated At Bashir Visa Row
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 wou
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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.
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.
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"I'm pretty devastated that Bash has had to go through this," Stokes told reporters in Hyderabad.
"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.
"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."
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