Representative image showing a Visa.
Credit: iStock Photo
The US players of Pakistani origin are yet to get their visas for the ensuing International Cricket Council (ICC) T20 World Cup to be held in India and Sri Lanka.
As per a report in Cricbuzz website, four US cricketers Pakistani origin — Ali Khan, Shayan Jahangir, Mohammad Mohsin, and Ehsan Adil — are awaiting visa clearance to travel to India.
The World Cup begins on February 7.
All the four players are currently in Sri Lanka as part of their final tune-up for the ICC marquee event which ends on March 8.
Though they completed the visa appointments on January 13, the four players are yet to get it stamped.
The issue came to light after Ali Khan posted an Instagram story suggesting that his visa application for the tournament had been denied.
He shared a photograph of himself dining at a restaurant with a teammate, captioning it, “India visa denied but KFC for the win.”
However, the Cricbuzz report adds that visa clearance process remains ongoing and there has been no formal rejection. Officials have indicated that the applications are still under review as part of established standard operating procedures.
"They completed the paperwork as per what ICC had asked them to prior to the appointments. At the appointment, the players were informed that the visas could not be processed at this stage. Later in the evening, USA management received a call from the Indian Embassy indicating that some of the required information had been received, while additional inputs were still awaited from the Foreign Ministry. Once that process is complete, they'll be contacted to proceed further. That is the current status," the website reported, citing an ICC source.
The build-up to the tournament has already been marred by a row between the ICC and Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) over their request to shift matches featuring their national team out of India to Sri Lanka owing to the diplomatic stand off between the two countries.
The BCB's apprehensions followed the release of Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman from Indian Premier League franchise Kolkata Knight Riders on the instructions of the Board of Control for Cricket in India.