India Vs WI: Last two T20Is planned at Florida teams await visas

LAUDERHILL: The last two T20Is between India and West Indies, to be held in Lauderhill, Florida on August 6 and 7, are all set to happen after both teams received their visas to the United States of America.

A report in Cricbuzz says that the USA visas for some players and support staff in the two teams were obtained at the eleventh hour following the intervention of Guyana President Irfan Ali.

"It was a timely and influential diplomatic effort by His Excellency," Ricky Skerritt, the president of Cricket West Indies (CWI), was quoted as saying in the report while thanking Ali.

The report further said that those without the USA visas were flown to Georgetown, the capital city of Guyana, after the third T20I in Basseterre, St Kitts ended on Tuesday 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."

"Others, including Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Dinesh Karthik, Ravi Bishnoi, Suryakumar Yadav and Kuldeep Yadav, have reached Miami meanwhile. They will be joined by the rest of the teammates on Thursday night," added the report.

"They can fly only tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon. All Visa applications have been approved but passports are not to be returned until this (Wednesday) afternoon. 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," further said Skerritt.

Previously, the second T20I in St Kitts on Monday was delayed by three hours after significant delay in luggage arrival from Tarouba, Trinidad, where the series opener was held. As a result, the third T20I on Tuesday was also delayed by 1.5 hours to give players sufficient time for recovery.

India are currently leading the five-match series 2-1, with the next two games scheduled back to back at the Central Broward Park, in Lauderhill, Florida, on Saturday and Sunday. India have played T20I matches at this venue in 2016 and 2019.