Usman Khawaja. (Photo Source: BCCI)
Usman Khawaja’s participation with the bat on the final day of the ongoing fourth Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy against India remains doubtful after the opening batter injured himself while attempting a catch on the boundary. After the end of India’s innings, he could not come out to bat as Australia sent nightwatchman Matthew Kuhnemann to bat alongside Travis Head in the final few minutes before stumps.
Left-hand batter Khawaja was taken off the field post the injury, and was out of the game for nearly two hours as Indian batters kept piling up runs in their first innings. Khawaja and Cameron Green hit centuries in the first innings as Australia posted 480 runs on board, but hundreds by Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli in reply helped the hosts get to 570/9.
“He has soreness in his left lower leg, just below the knee on the outside of the lower leg. Will be assessed again at the ground. He did have a scan (MRI), which is standard procedure. The imaging did not reveal anything conclusive,” a team spokesman was quoted as saying by News Corp.
Khawaja will have to go through a fitness Test so that the team could analyse his condition before taking any decision. Australia’s hopes of batting all day and securing a draw may be seriously hampered if Khawaja is unable to walk out to bat on the last day of the fourth and final Test match of the series.
Usman Khawaja performed really well in the third Test in Indore, and was a major reason behind Australia’s victory. After India won the first two games of the series and took a 2-0 lead to retain the Trophy, Australia bounced back and clinched the third Test, thereby confirming their place in the World Test Championship final.
With the final day of the final Test approaching, India needs to win the game so as to confirm the last remaining spot in the WTC final. If the game ends in a draw, which seems likely, India would want New Zealand to defeat Sri Lanka in one of the two games of the Test series. If India fails to win the fourth Test and Sri Lanka defeats New Zealand by 2-0, then the Islanders will face Australia in the WTC summit clash.
For a better experience: Download the CricTracker app from the IOS App Store and Google Play Store