Kabaddi Masters Dubai 2018: Raiders Sajjad Shaukat, Muzammal Hussain join Pakistan squad after getting visa clearance

Pakistan, who are considered to be one of the stronger teams at the Kabaddi Masters tournament in Dubai, will heave a sigh of relief, after two of their top raiders, Sajjad Shaukat and Muzammal Hussain, joined the squad ahead of their second match against Kenya on Sunday.

The Pakistan squad had faced issues with visas early on, and could only make it to UAE on the morning of their first match against India on Friday. However, Shaukat and Hussain could not travel with the rest of the squad as they did not get clearance in time.

However, a second application of their visas saw their travel plans to UAE being cleared, as they made the short trip to the Middle East on Sunday morning.

"I did not get visa clearance on the first chance. We had to apply for the visas twice, and only then did we get the clearance," Shaukat said to Sportskeeda after his arrival in Dubai. "Now that everything’s cleared out, hopefully, we can show our quality on the mat."

Pakistan captain Nasir Ali expressed his relief after the two raiders finally made it to the team hotel, and said that their arrival will serve as a much-needed boost to the Pakistan attack.

"These guys are really good raiders, and we missed them against India in the first match," said Nasir. "Let’s hope they play today, and we can produce a good performance. And tomorrow we play against India, so their presence will be even more crucial tomorrow."

Pakistan produced a rather disappointing performance against India in their first match at the Al Wasl Sports Club in Dubai, when they suffered a massive 36-20 loss at the hands of arch-rivals India. The Men in Blues' coach Srinivas Reddy had even gone on to claim that Pakistan's raiding department lacked the firepower that India had.

Now that these two raiders have joined the squad just a day before Pakistan's second match against India, the age-old rivalry looks set to be an exciting encounter.