An England cricketer’s problems obtaining a visa for the team’s test series in India have prompted the British government to call for fair treatment for any of its citizens seeking to enter the Asian country.
Shoaib 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 visa application.
Instead of flying to India with the rest of his teammates from Abu Dhabi, where England held a pre-series training camp, Bashir had to fly back to London and present his passport in person in an effort to get the correct approval at the Indian embassy.
Bashir finally received his visa on Wednesday and is due to join up with the team in India this weekend, the England and Wales Cricket Board said.
“We’re glad the situation has been resolved,” the ECB said.
England captain Ben Stokes said his initial reaction was to refuse to travel to India until Bashir’s case was sorted, before quickly backing down because of the ramifications such a decision would have.
The British government also reacted, saying “we absolutely expect India to treat British citizens fairly at all times in its visa process.”
Without wanting to comment on the specifics of Bashir’s case, a government statement said: “We have previously raised the issues British citizens with Pakistani heritage experience applying for visas with the Indian High Commission in London.”
Political tensions between India and Pakistan have often spilled over into cricket, where the two neighboring countries have a longstanding rivalry.
The visa issues meant that Bashir, who is on his first international tour with England, was ruled out of contention for the first test starting in Hyderabad on Thursday.
“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,” Stokes said Wednesday, before Bashir received his visa.
“I know it’s a way bigger thing, doing that. That was probably just 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.”
Stokes said he was “pretty devastated” that Bashir has experienced these complications.
“As a leader, as a captain, when one of your teammates is affected by something like that you do get a bit emotional,” he said.
India captain Rohit Sharma expressed sympathy for Bashir.
“I feel for him honestly,” said Sharma. “Unfortunately, I don’t sit in the visa office to give you more details on that but hopefully he can make it quickly, enjoy our country and play some cricket as well.”
English player Saqib Mahmood, whose parents are from Pakistan, had to be withdrawn from England Lions’ tour of India in 2019 after similar delays.
British government calls for fair treatment over Pakistan-origin cricketer’s visa issues from India
https://arab.news/rje9s
British government calls for fair treatment over Pakistan-origin cricketer’s visa issues from India
- Shoaib Bashir was the only member of England’s touring party to experience a significant delay over his visa application
- Instead of flying to India with the rest of teammates from Abu Dhabi, Bashir had to fly back to London and present passport in person
Aston Martin says its car risks giving drivers ‘nerve damage’ and can’t finish F1 season-opener
- Aston Martin has predicted it is unlikely to finish Formula 1’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix without its drivers risking suffering permanent nerve damage
MELBOURNE: Aston Martin has predicted it is unlikely to finish Formula 1’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Sunday without its drivers risking suffering permanent nerve damage.
Adrian Newey, the F1 car design great who’s heading into his first race as Aston Martin’s team principal, said Thursday the team’s Honda power unit causes vibrations which could damage the hands of drivers Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll. Neither will likely be able to tolerate even half of the 58-lap race distance, Newey added.
Aston Martin had a poor preseason, often slower even than new team Cadillac and it logged the fewest laps of all 11 teams.
“That vibration (transmitted from Honda’s power unit) into the chassis is causing a few reliability problems,” said Newey.
“Mirrors falling off the air, tail lights falling off, that sort of thing, which we are having to address. But, the much more significant problem with that is that that vibration is transmitted ultimately into the driver’s fingers.
“So Fernando is of the feeling that he can’t do more than 25 laps consecutively before he will risk permanent nerve damage into his hands. Lance is of the opinion that he can’t do more than 15 laps before that threshold.
“We are going to have to be very heavily restricted on how many laps we do in the race until we get on top of the source of the vibration — and to improve the vibration at source.”
Despite the long list of issues, Newey says the AMR26 car has tremendous potential as F1 starts a new era of regulations.
He argued the chassis is F1’s fifth-best behind the expected top-teams Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull and that, following an aggressive development program, has the potential to run at the front at some point in 2026.
Alonso, though, is keeping the faith until Friday practice in Melbourne, where he believes fixes on the car might provide a sunnier outlook.
“For us, it’s just vibrating everything,” the two-time F1 champion said.
“But it’s not only for us. The car is struggling a little bit, so that’s why we have some issues, some reliability problems that made our days slightly short.
“Since (pre-season testing in) Bahrain, there were a couple of tests done and some of the solutions are implemented on the car now, so (I’m) curious to see what (happens) tomorrow (and) if we can improve.”
Its disappointing performance has been variously attributed to a compressed design time due to late arrival; Honda’s need to rebuild its research and development capabilities after leaving Red Bull, the challenge of producing a new in-house gearbox, and the team running a so-far unproven fuels partner in Aramco.
But it’s the side effects that will likely sideline its cars early in Sunday’s race at Albert Park.
