The Australian cricket team arrived in India on Tuesday, January 31 for four Test matches, however, without the veteran opener Usman Khawaja. Khawaja, who has become an inseparable part of the Test team since his comeback in the Sydney Test in the Ashes series last summer, was left stranded in Australia
The 36-year-old batter’s visa was delayed after a physical copy of it wasn’t available when the second set of players and staff left Australia. The travel for Islamabad-born Khawaja is now rescheduled to Thursday, February 2. To express his situation the left-hander shared a hilarious meme on Instagram which went instantly viral, with the caption, “Me waiting for my Indian Visa like… #stranded #dontleaveme #standard #anytimenow.”
The comments on the post, however, told an altogether different story. One of the users commented that Australian Test captain, “Pat Cummins has it but wants to declare and bowl” referring to the pacer’s declaration during the third Test against South Africa when Khawaja was unbeaten on 195. However, it was the Australian broadcaster Kayo’s salty comment that left Indian fans angry as it commented, “India just scared.”
Khawaja has been in terrific form since his comeback in January 2022 as he scored mountains of runs in his country of origin in Pakistan and then after a quiet few games, came back to form at the same venue, Sydney scoring a 195*. Now the opener will hope to continue his magnificent touch given that the same fixture could also be repeated in the World Test Championship (WTC) final.
The four-match Test series between India and Australia is the first edition of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in the sub-continent in six years since 2017 and the first one overall since the epic 2020-21 series Down Under. The Test matches will be followed by a three-match ODI series.
