The Australian cricket team left for India for the Border Gavaskar Trophy after the conclusion of their awards night, but the southpaw opener, Usman Khawaja couldn’t board the flight due to the delay in his visa. While the rest of the team has already left the country, Khawaja is still waiting for his Indian visa to be approved, and as a result, is stranded at home.
The opening batter is a very crucial member of the team. He won the inaugural Shane Warne award as the Men’s Test Player of the Year at the Australian Cricket Awards. The award has been named after the legendary spinner who passed away last year. Khawaja bagged 22 votes in his favor to beat Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith, who received 20 and 16 votes respectively.
ALSO READ: Virat Kohli Urges People Not To Film Him In A Spiritual Hermitage
Usman Khawaja shared a ‘meme’ template on his official Instagram account and captioned it: “Me waiting for my Indian Visa like… #stranded #dontleaveme #standard #anytimenow”.
View this post on Instagram
The Australian team flew to India on Tuesday and Usman Khawaja is likely to get his visa cleared and leave for India on Thursday, February 2. Except for Pakistan-born Khawaja, who suffered a similar issue back in 2011, every member of the 18-man squad has been given clearance to enter India. Khawaja then resorted to social media to express his annoyance at being denied entry into the nation as an Australian, since he was not born there.
ALSO READ: Naseem Shah Takes A Dig At The Body Weight Of Azam Khan During A BPL Match
As for the series, India and Australia will start preparing for the all-important Border Gavaskar Trophy, which is set to begin on February 9, Thursday, and the opening game of the 4-match Test series will be played at the VCA Stadium in Nagpur. The teams will then move to Delhi for the second Test, which will be played at the Arun Jaitley Stadium from February 17.
The third Test is scheduled to be played at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamsala from March 1, and the fourth and final Test will be played at the world’s largest cricket stadium- the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad from March 9. The result of the four-match Test series will determine India’s fate at the World Test Championship final. While Australia dominates the WTC Rankings and have secured the top spot, India needs to win the series to make the cut.
