Usman Khawaja left stranded in Oz over visa issues into India

Pakistan-born Australian cricket star Usman Khawaja has been denied a visa into India only days out from the first Test.

Usman Khawaja was left behind as the rest of the Australian team left for India on Tuesday.

As the team flew out the day after the Australian Cricket Awards on Monday night, Khawaja was stranded due to visa issues.

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The left-handed opener was the only member of the travelling party who didn’t receive clearance on his visa.

It remains unclear why Khawaja’s was the only member denied a visa, with the Pakistan-born star expected to join the team later in the week.

All applications for the touring party were said to have been submitted at the same time during the Sydney Test, but Khawaja was the only one knocked back, according to the Herald Sun.

Khawaja saw the lighter side in the story, taking to Instagram on Wednesday to post about the unexpected wait.

Khawaja was the other big winner of the night on Monday, taking out the Community Champion award and the inaugural Shane Warne Men’s Test Player of the Year gong.

The silky left-hander says his Big Bash side the Brisbane Heat can go all the way this season.

“To be where we are now is a credit to the team for their fight and resolve. It’s exceeded my expectation, if I’m being totally honest,” the departing skipper said.

“I came back to the Heat but it was more of a long-term plan. I thought we could build for this year and expect where we want to be next year and the year after that. But the way the guys have embraced a lot of pressure situations (has been great).

“Max Bryant has been playing unbelievably well for us during the year. He just missed out a few times at the start which can be tough in T20 cricket.

“I’m also really excited for someone like Nathan McSweeney, who will probably get an opportunity. He played one game and got 80 when he batted beautifully at the Gabba. He batted really well in the next game but we all came back and he unfortunately got pushed out.

“The depth is there and the bowling has been great all year, so we might be able to pull out another win.”

Khawaja was left behind. (Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images)

This year’s BBL has been a raging success, with scintillating action leading to bumper crowds and huge ratings thanks to overseas players coming in and Australian Test stars returning for the back-end of the tournament.

It’s a shame guys like Khawaja and Steve Smith won’t be available for the final two games, but that could change next year with a shortened schedule set to be brought in.

“It’s just the nature of the beast,” said Khawaja, who would have been available for this match last year given the final was played on January 28.

“There’s so much cricket in this day and age.

“I think the competition has been great this year. I’m looking forward to what the next few years have in line.

“They’re talking about reducing the competition to 10 games (per team), which I think will be superb for the tournament. It will be the perfect number of games to be played.

“I think we saw a lot of great overseas players this year, and I think when we reduce it to 10 (games) we’ll see a lot of them stay the whole way through which will be awesome.”

– with Martin Gabor, NCA Newswire