All three Pakistani origin players of England including Adil Rashid got visaImage Credit source: Getty Images
The arrival of teams for the T20 World Cup 2026 to be held in India and Sri Lanka will start in the next few days. This tournament is to start from 7th February but even before that the issue of visa of some players has come to the fore. In fact, there was an uproar due to the delay in getting Indian visas for players of Pakistani origin present in many teams including England and America. Now the final decision has come in this matter. According to reports, 3 England players have got visas for India, while other players and support staff will also get this permission soon.
Which players got visa?
A PTI report has revealed that there are a total of 42 members of Pakistani origin in the team from different countries. There are many players in it and some support staff members too. Efforts are going on at the ICC level to get visas for all of them and everyone is getting visas one by one. The report states that of these England Three players – Rehan Ahmed, Adil Rashid and Saqib Mahmood – have received their visas. All these three players are of Pakistani origin and are part of England’s T20 World Cup team.
some #ICC #T20WorldCup2026 news. English cricketers @ECB_cricket Rehan Ahmed, Adil Rashid and Saqib Mahmood have all received Visas for participation in #T20WC. The @ICC is coordinating and facilitating visas of all 42 players and support staff of Pakistan origin from various
— Kushan Sarkar (@kushansarkar) January 18, 2026
Recently, this controversy came to light regarding the delay in getting visas for players of Pakistani origin for the World Cup. Four players of Pakistani origin, including fast bowler Ali Khan, included in the US team, could not get visas. Only after this, the issue of delay in getting visas for England players also came to light. Although it was already decided that all these players and support staff members would get the visa with some delay but would definitely get it. Now this issue seems to be calming down.
Why is there delay in getting visa?
In fact, due to strained relations with Pakistan, the Indian government has recently adopted this policy regarding visas. More stringent scrutiny is done regarding the visas of members of Pakistani origin in any team that tours India, due to which it often gets delayed. During the World Cup 2023, the visa for the entire Pakistani team also took time. Similarly, it took time for the visas of players like Rehan and Shoaib Bashir, who were included in the England team that came to play the Test series on India tour in 2024, took time.