Australian opener takes a hilarious dig at himself for being stranded in Australia ahead of Ind vs Aus Test series

Australia Test Team (Source: Twitter)

Star Australian opener Usman Khawaja has been stranded in Australia as Visa issues prevented him from flying to India for the upcoming four-match Test series. The southpaw took to Instagram and posted a hilarious meme to describe his condition. Khawaja posted the famous meme of a man patiently sitting with a sad face waiting for something and captioned ‘Me waiting for my Indian Visa like..’

Australian players flew out of Sydney on Tuesday after attending the Allan Border Medal ceremony on Monday. According to a report in Wide World of Sports, Khawaja is expected to have his visa cleared and fly to India on Thursday. The 36-year-old was not scheduled to train on Thursday regardless, so his preparation is not expected to be significantly impacted.

 

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A post shared by Usman Khawaja (@usman_khawajy)

Australia will play four Test matches against India, starting in Nagpur on February 9. Khawaja has never played a Test in India but has played ODIs where he’s found a lot of success. He was recently awarded the men's Test Player of the Year award at the Allan Border Medal night.

He was the highest run-scorer for Australia in Tests in 2022 and third-highest overall. He amassed 1080 runs at an average of 67.50 with four hundreds and five fifties to his name.

Khawaja also faced Visa issues in 2011

Khawaja also ran into visa trouble when he was attempting to fly to India in 2011 for the Champions League Twenty20 tournament.

Australian officials at the time suggested the issue had nothing to do with Khawaja's Pakistani heritage. Khawaja tweeted in 2011 about that incident.

"'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," he said in 2011.

Meanwhile, the Test series is important for both teams to qualify for the World Test Championship Final scheduled to be held in June. India need to win at least two Tests to stay in the race for the final while a victory in three Tests will seal their spot in the mega clash. Australia haven’t won a Test series in India since 2004 and will be looking to end their victory drought in the upcoming series.