WI vs IND: Teams to fly to Guyana on August 3 to get US visas for final two T20Is

West Indies and India are scheduled to play the final two T20Is of their ongoing five-match series in Florida, the US, but there still is no clarity about the teams flying to the country due to their visa clearance issues. Nevertheless, Cricket West Indies is hopeful that things will fall in place as the team members are now scheduled to fly to Guyana on Wednesday (August 3) for their visas.

The T20I series has witnessed a lot of ups and downs so far. After reports of the visa issue came in, the second T20I was delayed on August 1 as the players’ luggage did not arrive on time. There was a gap of two days between the first and second games as the two teams moved to St. Kitts for two games. The two matches, scheduled on August 1 and 2 were supposed to begin at 8 PM IST but due to the delay, timings for both games were changed.

The hosts of the matches, Cricket West Indies (CWI), has not given up hope though, and the latest developments indicate that India and West Indies members will be flown to Georgetown, Guyana, on Wednesday (August 3), as appointments have been scheduled with them at the American Embassy there. The Florida games are being saved in the nick of time with this effort.

“The US VISA entry appointments are booked for Wednesday in Guyana. All the relevant applications, etc have been done. Beyond that, we have no control. But we are optimistic,” CWI president Ricky Skerritt was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.

CWI is hopeful of Florida hosting the fixtures, but also looking at alternative plans

The teams aim to get there by Thursday for the two matches, that will take place on Saturday and Sunday (August 6 and 7) in Miami, Florida. Miami and Georgetown, Guyana, are connected by a five-hour flight.

At the same time, the CWI is concurrently making alternative arrangements, according to a source from Miami who informed that the plans to hold the final two matches in Florida continue to be in place. The source stated that Trinidad will most likely be the back-up location, but the CWI president refused to talk about his board’s second choice.

When asked about other possibilities, Skerritt replied, “Let’s keep things at that for now.” The same message has been given to the series’ commercial stakeholders too. “The CWI will not fly the Indian team to Guyana unless it is not confident of getting the clearance,” the source, who is well-aware of the situation, was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.