Rubel Hossain denied permission to fly to South Africa after failing to secure NOC

Bangladesh’s Rubel Hossain was denied a clearance to fly to South Africa. (Source: AP)

Despite having a valid passport, Bangladesh pace bowler Rubel Hossain was prevented from a boarding a flight to South Africa. This was after the airport officials (Emirates Airlines) claimed that he did not have immigration clearance and thereby failed to secure a No Objection Certificate (NOC).

Bangladesh Cricket Board chief executive officer Nizamuddin Chowdhury spoke to the AFP and said, “There is a new a provision that the passenger needs to have some sort of ‘OK to Board’ clearance from his ultimate destination,”

When asked if the reason was the alleged rape allegation against him, Chowdhury said, “I don’t think it is the reason for him not to get the immigration clearance. His name is very common. Maybe someone else with the same name has some problem which created this problem.”

Meanwhile, cricinfo quoted Chowdhury, where he said, “There is a new provision that the passenger needs to have an ‘Okay to Board’ clearance from the ultimate destination. It is the responsibility of the concerned airlines before issuing the boarding pass to any individual.”

Earlier, Rubel Hossain had been ruled out of action after breaking his jaw. This was during the tour in England. The reason for this was that Rubel collided with a door in the team hotel. However, he recovered prior to the series against Australia and is ready to play the Test series against South Africa.

Commenting on his fitness, Rubel said “I am fully fit now and bowled off a full run-up today. There is still a lot of time. Yes, I missed a few sessions but I will try to cover it. I had a few breaks in my career which has been the main reason why I am yet to establish my place in the Test side, as you see my performance in Test cricket is not that good.”