Follow UsThe problem of England cricketers of Pakistani heritage not having a smooth passage to India is not new and the newest entrant to that problem is pacer Saqib Mahmood.
The 27-year-old, as of January 14, has not able to receive his visa to tour India as part of the England squad for the five-match T20I series, beginning January 22.
Daily Mail UK reported on Tuesday, “Mahmood was scheduled to leave for the UAE last Thursday (January 9) for a pace bowling camp alongside Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse and Mark Wood but the ECB were forced to cancel his flight with his passport still in the hands of the Indian Embassy.”
However, this is not the first time such an issue has cropped up. The latest instance was at the start of January 2024 when two members of the England Test squad - Rehan Ahmed and Shoaib Bashir - faced delays in their visa approvals from the Indian embassy.
The answer to that can be as simple as them being of Pakistani descent and India and Pakistan not having cordial relations. However, that logic is a bit flawed. Given that the likes of Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid do not face any visa delays in the Indian Premier League (IPL), the Pakistani heritage logic does not hold.
Mahmood applied for a visa on two different occasions before the latest episode and yet he was unable to get the visa. Thus the logic that only first-time applicants face visa delays or declines is nullified as well.
The right-arm fast bowler was supposed to travel with his county team Lancashire to India in 2024, but he was not granted the visa. In 2019, he was named to the England Lions squad for the India tour and was denied a visa back then too.
Even Usman Khawaja, who is not from the UK, but an Australian with Pakistani heritage, faced delay in his visa for India tour in 2023. Thus being from the UK is also not the problem, it is Pakistani heritage. Khawaja is also not an IPL regular.
This time around, though, for England's forthcoming white-ball tour of India, both Rehan Ahmed and Adil Rashid did not face any delays in their visas being granted. So really, each case seems to be different, with there being inconsistency from the authorities when it comes to granting visa. However, what seems evident is that a player being an IPL regular generally tends to smoothen their visa approval if they are of Pakistani heritage.
That being said, there is no permanent solution until and unless the relations between India and Pakistan get better.