A cloud was hanging over the last two T20I matches between India and West Indies which are scheduled to take place on Saturday (August 6) and Sunday (August 7) at Lauderdale in Florida, US. At least 14 Indian cricketers and some West Indies cricketers were stuck in the West Indies as they didn’t have valid American visas to play cricket in the US.
Both the teams headed to Guyana after the third T20 match in St Kitts in order to get US visas. According to Cricbuzz website, the US embassy have now granted visas to all the cricketers after some timely intervention by President of Guyana, Irfan Ali.
“It was a timely and influential diplomatic effort by His Excellency,” said Ricky Skerritt, the president of Cricket West Indies (CWI), thanking the head of the Guyana government told Cricbuzz website.
Those cricketers without the visas were flown to Georgetown in Guyana after the third T20I in St Kitts on Tuesday (August 2) night for interviews at the US Embassy. Among those who attended the interviews were India skipper Rohit Sharma and head coach Rahul Dravid. There were, in fact, 14 of them from the Indian touring party who did not have the travel approvals.
Other Indian cricketers with US visas were Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Dinesh Karthik, Ravi Bishnoi, Suryakumar Yadav and Kuldeep Yadav, have reached Miami. They will be joined by the rest of the teammates on Thursday night.
“They can fly only tomorrow afternoon. All Visa applications have been approved but passports are not to be returned until this afternoon,” Skerritt told the website. “All that the CWI could do has been done. Last night’s charter to Miami, for those previously with visas, was at greater financial risk to delay it than to operate it as previously planned,” Skerritt added.
Meanwhile, West Indies skipper Nicholas Pooran and all-rounder Jason Holder were hosted by Major League Baseball (MLB) team Miami Marlins. Pooran and Holder threw a few ceremonial pitches at the Marlins stadium.
Watch Nicholas Pooran and Jason Holder throw pitches with Miami Marlins here…
Cricket meets baseball.
Got the chance to welcome the @ICC‘s @windiescricket to Miami for today’s first pitch. Thanks for joining us @Jaseholder98 and @nicholas_47. #MakeItMiami pic.twitter.com/DLgnLEHeLd
— Miami Marlins (@Marlins) August 4, 2022
Rohit Sharma will be available for the last two games on Saturday and Sunday. The India skipper retired hurt during the team’s chase against West Indies in the 3rd T20I in Warner Park, Basseterre, St Kitts, on Tuesday. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said the skipper suffered a back spasm. He is now learnt to have recovered. India went on to win the game to take a 2-1 lead in the five-match series.
