CricketEurope understands that Zulfiqar was denied boarding at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport on Wednesday last week when the squad departed for pre-tournament training in Bangalore.

The 18 year-old allrounder, who plays for ACC Amsterdam in the Dutch Topklasse and the Hurricanes in the North Sea Pro-Series, made his T20I debut for the Netherlands against the UAE in Dubai three weeks ago.

Zulfiqar joined the squad in Dubai only after their Intercontinental Cup and World Cricket League fixtures against the UAE earlier in the year, arriving in Dubai in late January. Consequently, there was insufficiant time to process his visa from Abu Dhabi as was done for the rest of the squad.

It is understood that Zulfiqar's visa application upon returning to the Netherlands has taken longer than expected and he currently remains in the Netherlands.

It is not yet clear whether the issue is likely to be resolved before the tournament starts on March 8th, and the Dutch camp have refused to be drawn on whether they are considering calling up anther player as cover.