WATCH: Usman Khawaja gets hit on chin by a lethal bouncer during 1st Test against West Indies

The first Test of the Australia vs West Indies Test series saw another one-sided victory where the Aussies completely dominated the West Indies with both bat and ball. It could not have been a worse start for the West Indies as they were bowled out for just 188 in the first innings of the Test match. The Australians in reply were bowled out for 283 and got a lead of 95 runs thanks to a brilliant century by Travis Head. The West Indies game did not get better in the 2nd innings as well where they were once again skittled out for 120 runs and could only manage to give the Aussies a target of just 25 runs, which was chased down easily.

The only silver lining for the West Indies was the debutant pacer Shamar Joseph, who bowled a brilliant spell in the first innings trying to get the West Indies back in the game. Shamar ended his first innings spell with 5/94 in 20 overs at an economy of 4.70. His first victim was Australia star batter Steven Smith of his first ball where the batter nicked a good length delivery outside off stump to third slip. This was already a dream start to his Test career but was not finished yet as he managed to get the wicket of Marnus Labuschagne for a short delivery and Cameron Green for another good-length delivery in the corridor of uncertainty. The last two wickets of Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon saw the 24-year-old youngster get his maiden 5 wicket haul.

Joseph’s deadly bouncer to Khawaja

There is another moment featuring Joseph when he came to bowl in the second innings as well. He was given the ball in the seventh over where he bowled a bouncer to Australia opener Usman Khawaja which hit the batter on the chin missing the grill completely. This forced the batter to retire hurt after that brutal delivery. This is a tough moment for Australia as well since he was their first-choice opener who was consistently scoring runs as well. He has gone for scans straight away and the Aussies will be hoping he recovers as soon as possible after that blow.

Watch the video below:

A nasty moment as Usman Khawaja is hit on the chin by a Shamar Joseph short ball #AUSvWI pic.twitter.com/nF5nFqxgJJ

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) January 19, 2024

These are some of the darkest moments for any player when they get such a delivery that can damage their chances of playing. We hope it is not as serious as it looked on the big screen when Khawaja was going off the field holding cheek in pain. The cricket ball already causes a lot of pain even when the batters have no helmet on and this specific delivery missed that as well. Let’s hope that Khawaja will be available for the upcoming match as the Aussies will need him back to score runs at the top which he has been doing well in the past.