Bangladesh pacer Rubel Hossain’s wait finally came to an end on Thursday as he got the green signal from the South Africa immigration authorities to travel to the country for two-Test series.
The fast bowler was expected to take flight at 1:20am on Thursday and join rest of the team-mates in South Africa in the afternoon, confirmed BCB’s cricket operations manager Sabbir Khan.
‘He got his clearance today. He will fly at night and should reach South Africa around 4:30pm local team,’ he said.
Rubel was earlier prevented from boarding a flight to South Africa earlier on Saturday as the airline that carried the team said that he did not have immigration clearance.
It left the paceman in an awkward situation prompting the Bangladesh Cricket Board to contact with their South African counterparts immediately.
The South African authorities told the BCB that Rubel was denied the clearance as he resembled with a person having some criminal record in their country.
‘We have received photo, name and other information and all these things completely match with Rubel but the person is different,’ BCB president Nazmul Hasan told reporters on Thursday.
‘Whom they have banned is not our player Rubel…there was a similar kind of person whose name, date of birth and all other information were similar which made them confused,’ he said.
‘They have a security clearance system and there is a person who carries an exact birth date of Rubel Hossain whom they have banned. So it made the whole confusion,’ he added.
The BCB chief added that they kept all-rounder Saifuddin and pacer Kamrul Islam Rabbi as stand-bys, though they were not required finally.
Due to the problem, Rubel missed the on-going three-day warm-up match in Benoni but he should be available for the first Test, starting at Potchefstroom on September 28.
The second and final Test will be played in Bloemfontein staring on October 6.
-With New Age input