England will begin their intended white-ball reboot under Brendon McCullum with a full complement of fast bowlers after Saqib Mahmood was belatedly granted a visa to join the squad that departs on Friday evening for the tour of India.
Mahmood was forced to miss a training camp for the quicks in Abu Dhabi this past week after a delay in receiving the necessary paperwork for the eight-match white-ball series in India that starts on Wednesday. As well as the start of McCullum’s expanded role as head coach, it serves as a precursor to the Champions Trophy.
Believed to relate to his Pakistani heritage, and with continuing political tension between India and their neighbours, the hold-up for Mahmood risked a repeat of the wrangle when Shoaib Bashir missed the first Test in Hyderabad last January. But with his passport now returned, the 27-year-old will be part of England’s squad.
Mahmood sat out an England Lions tour of India in 2019 due to a visa delay and also stayed home in anticipation of further problems when Lancashire travelled to India for a pre-season trip last year. Rehan Ahmed and Adil Rashid, previous visitors to the country and with similar backgrounds, received their visas in good time.
The tour gets under way in Kolkata with the first of three T20 internationals but it is the subsequent five-match one-day international series that is most relevant to the Champions Trophy. That takes place in Pakistan in February and March.
It is clear that pace is central to England’s thinking. Mahmood is one of five frontline quicks in the party, with Gus Atkinson, Jofra Archer, Mark Wood and Brydon Carse having all worked with the bowling consultant coach, Jimmy Anderson, in Abu Dhabi.
Even the seam-bowling all-rounder berth has gone to the faster man, with Jamie Overton preferred to the left-arm angle of Sam Curran and he is due to join the squad after playing in Australia’s Big Bash League.
With Reece Topley and Chris Woakes overlooked, it represents a change in direction for England under McCullum; a strategy underpinned by the “Pace Project” the team director, Rob Key, commissioned last year. While acknowledging the need for skill and variation, England are now putting more stock in those who bowl above 84mph in ODI cricket, not least when the two Kookaburra balls go soft after the powerplay.
As well as the tour being a chance for Jos Buttler to reassert his captaincy credentials after two disappointing outings in the 2023 World Cup and last year’s T20 equivalent, the ODI leg brings back Joe Root for the first time since the first of those failed title defences. Jamie Smith, the first-choice Test wicketkeeper and expected to take the gloves off Buttler in India, also returns after paternity leave.
