South African leg-spinner Imran Tahir on Monday was humiliated and expelled by Pakistan Consulate in Birmingham when he went to get the visa to play for World XI in Pakistan.
Tahir, who is a part of the 14-member World XI squad that includes players from seven Test-playing countries will play three T20Is at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on September 12, 13 and 15 against Pakistan as part of the Independence Cup. He took to Twitter and expressed his disappointment at the treatment meted out to him and wrote, "Me with my family were humiliated & expelled from Pak High Commission earlier today when I went to get visa to play for WorldXI in Pakistan."
Tahir, a Pakistani-born South African cricketer, posted a message describing the incident.
Me with my family were humiliated & expelled from Pak High Commission earlier today when I went to get visa to play for WorldXI in Pakistan pic.twitter.com/VByiqV4oFh
— Imran Tahir (@ImranTahirSA) September 4, 2017Ahsan Iqbal, Pakistan's Minister for Interior, replied to the leg-spinner's post promising investigation and action.
"I have undergone a very unfortunate situation in the Pakistani Consulate Birmingham today. I had visited Consulate to secure our Pakistani visas with my family members. After going through the painful trauma of waiting for long 5 hours I was expelled by the staff explaining that the office hours are over and they are closing the Consulate. It was only after the intervention of High Commissioner Ibn e Abbas who instructed the staff that we were issued visas. It's an irony that being Pakistani origin South African Cricketer and intended to play in World XI was treated so miserably. Hats off to High Commissioner Ibn e Abbas who rescued me," wrote Tahir.
Tahir has played 20 Tests for South Africa and has 57 wickets to his name. The leg-spinner is far more potent in the shorter format of the game where he has picked up 132 wickets in 78 ODIs.