Bangladesh pace bowler Mustafizur Rahman heaved a sigh of relief as he was finally granted his UK visa on Tuesday paving the way for him to join English county side Sussex for NatWest T20 Blast and the Royal London One-Day Cup. Mustafiz will now fly for England today at 10:10am by a Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight and make his debut for Sussex against Essex at Chelmsford in the following evening.
‘Naturally it ended an anxious wait,’ Mustafiz told New Age on Tuesday.
The paceman was seen passing some anxious time in the BCB Academy in the morning as further delay in getting visa would risk his Sussex sting.
Sussex will feature in two Twenty20 matches on Thursday and Friday and if the young pacer could not get his visa on Tuesday he was all but certain to miss both the matches.
It would have made his journey uncertain with only one match left for Sussex NatWest T20 Blast. Mustafiz did not rest after completing his breakfast until he was comforted by Mashrafee bin Murtaza and Tamim Iqbal at the BCB premises.
Mustafiz was scheduled to join Sussex in June after signing as their second overseas cricketer for the NatWest T20 Blast and the Royal London One-Day Cup.
But his participation was delayed by the medical team of Bangladesh Cricket Board, who feared that the cricketer may suffer a burnout after grueling campaigns in the ICC World Twenty20 and Indian Premier League.
The BCB cleared him to play for Sussex in late June after a rehabilitation process, prompting the paceman to apply for his visa.
He was planning to leave on July 13 and make his debut against Hampshire but due to visa complications his journey was delayed for the second time.
-With New Age input
