IND vs AUS 2022-23: As Australia has travelled to India for four Tests for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Usman Khawaja's trip was delayed due to a visa delay. He has been granted the visa and will fly out on Thursday.
Australian opener Usman Khawaja was given the visa late on Wednesday to voyage to India for the Test series. The Pakistan-born cricketer was propelled to miss the Wednesday morning flight due to delays in issuing the travel documents. The passport and visa were conveyed to a Cricket Australia (CA) agent late on Wednesday night in Melbourne, declared a report in 'Sydney Morning Herald'. The Australian Test squad and support staff led by Pat Cummins had already left for the side's training camp in Bengaluru on a couple of individual flights on Tuesday and Wednesday. Still, Khawaja couldn't get on board either, as his passport and visa had not been provided to him by the Indian high commission.
Khawaja will fly out from Melbourne to Bengaluru on Thursday and might attend the team's activity session on Friday, stated the report. After getting to know his visa papers had not been processed, the cricketer took to social media on Wednesday afternoon to voice his frustration. "Me waiting for my Indian Visa like... #stranded #dontleaveme #standard #anytimenow," Khawaja reported on Instagram.
The report added that CA had instigated the procedure for issuing a visa in early January and that Khawaja was the only member of the touring party whose application still required to be processed in time. The report echoed a spokesperson of the Indian High Commission expressing that the matter was being scrutinised.
The Pakistan-born Khawaja has featured in 56 Tests, 40 One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and nine Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) for Australia. The 36-year-old batter played in the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2016. He was anointed Australia's Test Player of the Year on Monday, an award given after the legendary Shane Warne.
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Australia will have a four-day conditioning camp on the Bengaluru outskirts before heading to Nagpur for the opening Test on February 9. The other venues are Delhi, Dharamsala and Ahmedabad. Both sides are in contention for the 2021-23 ICC World Test Championship Final. Australia has opted out of a tour fixture in India ahead of the critical series, wishing the surfaces in practice ties to be distinguishable from what it would be facing during the series.
(With inputs from PTI)