BENGALURU: Australia batter Usman Khawaja has finally received his Indian visa and is geared up for the preparatory camp ahead of the first Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test against India, which will start from February 9 onwards.
The batter took to Instagram to share the news with his fans, saying that “mein arah hoon” (I am coming).
“Verified India, meh arah hoon. –> #incoming #khawajyenroute,” said the caption of Khawaja’s post.
Khawaja wrote on social media on Wednesday afternoon, not long after a second batch of athletes and support staff departed from Sydney about his wait for Indian visa. “Me waiting for my Indian Visa like… #stranded #dontleaveme #standard #anytimenow,” the opener tweeted.
As per ESPNcricinfo, some visas were delivered late, but it is unknown whether any other travel arrangements had to be changed. Following the Cricket Australia awards in Sydney on Monday night, when Khawaja was voted Shane Warne Men’s Test Player of the Year, the Australian team left in two groups throughout Tuesday and Wednesday.
Khawaja, who was born in Pakistan, has travelled to India, including the 2013 and 2017 Test tours. Despite not having played a Test in India, Khawaja is an important cog in the wheel for the Australian top order. He has scored 1,275 runs at an average of 79.68 since his recall against England in early 2022, including five hundreds.
Australia will train in Bengaluru for four days before moving to Nagpur for the first Test, which starts on February 9.
Several Aussie players participated in a two-day training in Sydney last week, but Khawaja and other batsmen participating Big Bash League (BBL) refrained from training.
In order to prepare for the series, Australia will be spending time on Bengaluru’s centre wicket where they have been promised that the pitches would be an accurate reflection of what is expected for the upcoming Tests.
Australia Test squad for the tour of India: Pat Cummins (c), Ashton Agar, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Lance Morris, Todd Murphy, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson and David Warner. (ANI)