Usman Khawaja faces visa issues, has not landed in India to train for the Border Gavaskar Trophy
Usman Khawaja has scored 4162 Test runs for Australia.
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Feb 1, 2023 11:48 am
Usman Khawaja (Source: Twitter)
Australia batter Usman Khawaja said that he is stranded and is not able to move to India because of visa issues to play the four-match Test series for the Border Gavaskar Trophy. The Australian players flew out of Sydney after attending the Allan Border Medal ceremony on Monday.
The 36-year-old took to Instagram and posted a meme on Wednesday with the caption, “me waiting for my Indian visa like…” followed by a number of hashtags, including the words “stranded” and “standard”.
Khawaja scored 1080 Test runs for Australia in 2022
Cricket Australia has said that Khawaja should be able to get his visa without any hurdles and will fly out to India on Thursday. As quoted by Wide World of sports, the left-handed batter was not slated to train on Thursday and so there will be little or no impact on his preparation. The first Test of the series will be held at Nagpur on February 9.
Khawaja also encountered problems with his visa in the Champions League T20 tournament in 2011. He attempted to fly into India at that time. He also put out a tweet about the incident at that time saying, “Indian visa department need to sort their issues out. Refusing to let me travel to India as an Australian, because I wasn’t born here. Wow”. The officials of Cricket Australia at that time said that the hindrances that he faced had nothing to do with his Pakistan heritage.
Khawaja has not donned the whites for Australia in India and if he plays this will be his maiden Test in the country. He has been in great form in Test Cricket and in 2022. The opener amassed 1080 runs in the longest format for the Kangaroos at an average of 67.50. He was also awarded the Test player of the year award on Border medal night.
Khawaja recently played in Pakistan, which was the country of his birth. This was his first tour in Pakistan. Australia won the three-match Test series in Pakistan 2-1. The 36-year-old has his roots in Karachi in Pakistan.
