The Austrailian opener Usman Khawaja is expected to miss the initial phase of Australia’s home Test series against India from December 6 with surgery the likely requirement for a meniscal tear on his left knee. The batsman twisted his left knee during throw-downs before the start of day three of the ongoing Abu Dhabi Test versus Pakistan and will meet a knee surgeon upon return to Australia.
If Khawaja undergoes surgery, he could be sidelined for anywhere between six weeks to three months. H did not take the field on Thursday and his place as opener went to Shaun Marsh when Australia batted a second time before stumps. He was sent for scans, which revealed a meniscal tear. The southpaw batsman has a history of keen trouble, having torn his anterior cruciate ligament in 2014 during training with his Big Bash League franchise and being sidelined for seven months.
The Australian skipper, Tim Paine said before the start of play on Friday that it was “unlikely” that Usman will bat during the fourth innings as they bid to bat out two days after being set a massive target of 538 by Pakistan on Thursday.
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Khawaja was Man of the Match in the drawn Dubai Test last week as he registered the mammoth scores of 85 and 141.
The seam bowler Peter Siddle said most of the players were unaware that Khawaja had hurt his knee until they saw him unable to join them for the start of play. He said, “Disappointing for him but he’s getting a scan later tonight and they’ll send it to the people who need to have a look at it in the next day or so and we’ll find out more. Just fingers crossed for him, hopefully, it comes back positive for him and he can get back out there. It was just something in a warm-up, we were throwing the ball.”
He further added, “But I think throughout the day he was up and about, moving around, helping us when we came in and trying to help us in the rooms. He’s a positive guy, so fingers crossed for him and we get some good news tonight or tomorrow. Tonight once he’s got the scan and we know more that’ll determine from the doctor’s point of view what he can and can’t do. That’s the big thing at the end of the day and just looking after his welfare. We’ll see how that comes up tomorrow and we’ll go from there.”
