Rajkot: England skipper Ben Stokes Wednesday expressed relief after young leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed’s visa issue was sorted in quick time due to the intervention of the Indian government and the BCCI.
Ahmed, the spinner of Pakistani descent, had a single-entry visa upon arrival in Rajkot but he was able to complete his paperwork a day before the start of the third Test against India.
“For any individual having to wait for that is always an anxious period, but thankfully, we got it through this morning, and great job from the guys at the airport for giving him his visa to get through initially, and everyone at the BCCI and the government to get the visa quickly,” Stokes said ahead of the third Test.
“We do not have to worry anymore about those issues, we were very confident that we would get the visa for Rehan before the game started,” he added.
Earlier, before the start of the series, off-spinner Shoaib Bashir also faced visa issue and arrived in Hyderabad on the third day of the first Test.
Stokes praised Ahmed for handling the situation well.
“There was no thoughts about not playing him this week, the great thing about youth is that they just take everything in their stride,” he said.
“He handled a situation that could’ve affected quite a lot of people in a different way, very well for such a young kid. Rehan, in the Test matches that he has played, he has done very well and he has solved everything that we have asked him,” Stokes added.
PTI