Scotland are facing an anxious wait over visas for their players travelling to the T20 World Cup following their last-minute inclusion after Bangladesh dropped out of the tournament last week.
Scotland will play their first T20 World Cup match on February 7 against West Indies, two weeks after their inclusion was confirmed. They now face a scramble to get all of their players visas in time to travel to India in advance of their opening fixture.
Cricket Scotland face anxious wait over Pakistani-heritage player's visa
Although Scotland have yet to formally announce their squad for the tournament, it's likely that pace bowler Safyaan Sharif will be selected. Sharif played in the 2024 T20 World Cup and was also part of the squad for the European Qualifier for the 2026 tournament, which Scotland finished fourth in.
Sharif's visa process could be more complicated than his teammates given difficulties other players with Pakistani heritage have faced obtaining visas to travel to India. It emerged last week that England's Rehan Ahmed and Adil Rashid were only given visa clearance after the rest of the England squad's had already been issued. Given the short turnaround time for Scotland to secure visas for their players, Sharif's application – if selected – could be a major worry.
"The visa piece is always slightly an unknown, and it doesn’t matter whether you’ve got three days or 45 days, but certainly that’s been our focus in the last 48 hours is just getting those visas done," said Cricket Scotland chief executive, Trudy Lindblade. "Our players are all ready to go, they’re all in the middle of submitting our visas and we’ll be there in India as quickly as we can, it’s just a matter of time now.
Asked if the ICC had been able to give the governing body assurances that visas for their players and staff would be expedited, Lindblade said: "They [ICC] can only give us the assurances of the bits they control and the bits they control, we are working with them and they are working with the BCCI and local people on the ground there to make sure that we are getting all that support that we need. So absolutely the assurances that they can provide of the things that are in their control, there is a team working very hard not just to help us but to help 19 other teams as well that are also going to a World Cup, but we are their intense focus right now."
Elongated visa processes for players with Pakistani heritage are not new for international series' and tournaments in India. Usman Khawaja had to travel after his teammates for Australia's 2023 Test series in India, and Shoaib Bashir missed the first Test of England's 2024 series after he had to travel back to the UK from Abu Dhabi in order to obtain clearance.
Visas, flights, hotels, kit, sponsors – Cricket Scotland juggle logistical headache in T20 World Cup race
The last minute nature of Scotland's T20 World Cup inclusion means that Cricket Scotland are working "round the clock" to pull together their campaign. As an associate ICC member, Cricket Scotland have a staff of around 30 people, with their resources stretched further given Scotland Women are currently competing in the Women's 2025 T20 World Cup Qualifier, with a team also at the U19 World Cup.
"We’ve been almost working round the clock with us in Scotland, Steve [Snell, Cricket Scotland head of performance] in Nepal and ICC in India and Dubai, we’re almost on a 24-7 clock," said Lindblade. "There have been messages on a WhatsApp group at all hours of the day and night so there might be a three-hour spell where none of us are working...
"Our focus and Steve’s focus from Nepal along with our team manager from Nepal who will also go as our team manager in India have just been looking at all of the practical stuff – flights, visas, hotels, all of those sorts of things, and doing those really quickly. That’s our focus, as well as the big things like getting a squad named, making sure they’ve got everything that they need, getting them kitted out and also looking for a sponsor."
Scotland haven't played any international cricket since September last year, and haven't played a T20I since the World Cup Qualifier in July. Their last T20I match was a one-wicket loss to Jersey which knocked them out of T20 World Cup qualification.
"I really don’t know how we’re going to play," said Snell. "Obviously I hope we’ll be competitive but the other teams have had all of this preparation time to get their squads, their game plan, look at the conditions etc. The pressure will be on the other teams to beat us because with all of that preparation time we’ll certainly be underdogs in that regard."
Scotland will play West Indies, England, Nepal and Italy in Group C.
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