After days of agonising wait, all members of the Indian and West Indies teams have been officially cleared to travel to the United States of America. They will be playing two T20I games in Florida this weekend.
Thanks to the intervention of the Guyana government, the US Visas for some players and support staff of the two sides could be obtained, albeit at the eleventh hour. Cricbuzz can confirm that it required the efforts of Irfan Ali, the President of Guyana, to get the travel approvals. "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.
As earlier reported, those 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.
Thanks to the intervention of the Guyana government, the US Visas for some players and support staff of the two sides could be obtained, albeit at the eleventh hour. Cricbuzz can confirm that it required the efforts of Irfan Ali, the President of Guyana, to get the travel approvals. "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.
As earlier reported, those 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.