Star Australia batter Usman Khawaja had to miss the flight to India for the upcoming Border Gavaskar Trophy after his visa was delayed by the Indian government. Khawaja, who recently bagged Cricket Australia's Test Cricketer of the Year award, was born in Pakistan but has played cricket in Australia all his life.
The rest of the Australian players and support staff arrived in India on February 01 as Khawaja was forced to miss two flights in the space of 36 hours.
Upon being stranded Down Under, the left-handed batter posted a popular internet meme with the caption: "Me waiting for my Indian Visa like… #stranded #dontleaveme #standard #anytimenow."
This is not the first time Khawaja has faced difficulties while traveling to India. In 2011, he needed a special intervention to participate in T20 Champions League.
Cricket fans around the world are licking their lips in anticipation of watching India's red-ball series against Australia. The four-match Test series between India and Australia kicks off on February 09 with the first game scheduled to be played at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur.
The upcoming Border-Gavaskar series will be extremely crucial for India as they want to make one final push to qualify for the World Test Championship (WTC) final. Rohit Sharma's men are currently second on the WTC standings while the Baggy Greens are at the summit.
Border Gavaskar Trophy 2023 schedule:
1st Test at Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur - February 9-13
2nd Test at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi - February 17-21
3rd Test at Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharamsala - March 1-5
4th Test at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad - March 9-13
India’s squad for the first two Tests vs Australia: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul (vc), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Suryakumar Yadav
Australia Test squad for India tour: Pat Cummins (capt), 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, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner.
