Abu Dhabi: Australia has been dealt an enormous injury blow with star batsman Usman Khawaja in doubt for the start of the home Test summer.
He maybe out of action for atleast eight weeks as it was confirmed on Friday that the left-hander will likely require surgery on his left knee after a training mishap during the second Test here.
Khawaja went for scans late on Thursday, which revealed that although he has not re-torn his anterior cruciate ligament, he has suffered a meniscal tear.
Australia, which is already missing Steve Smith and David Warner will further get weak if they lose Khawaja, who is their current number one batsmen, with his exploits against Pakistan in tough conditions during the first Test.
The first of four Tests against India begins in Adelaide on 6 December. The 31-year-old was noticeably limping when he arrived at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium on Friday. Khawaja twisted his left knee awkwardly during a throwing drill in Australia’s warm-ups on Thursday, with the injury sidelining him for the entire day’s play.
The left-hander has previously had problems with his left knee, tearing his anterior cruciate ligament in 2014 in an innocuous training mishap with the Sydney Thunder. The injury saw him ruled out of action for seven months.
He is expected to consult a knee surgeon on his return to Australia to weigh up how to treat the injury. Khawaja has been Australia’s leading batsman during the two-match Test series with 229 runs at 76 and played one of the finest innings in recent memory in the series-opener to save the first Test.
In the wake of Khawaja’s career-defining double of 85 and 141 to save Australia’s blushes in Dubai, the gulf left when he cannot make runs was demonstrated when his early dismissal on the first evening here led to an inadequate first-innings tally of 145 that effectively surrendered any chance of victory in the match to Pakistan.
After Sarfraz Ahmed’s team went on to set Australia a distant 538 to win in more than two days, the team coached by Justin Langer was left with a minimum of 192 overs to survive, with Khawaja’s role in proceedings severely restricted.
His was the second injury problem for the Australians in this match, after Mitchell Starc complained of hamstring tightness at the start of Pakistan’s second innings having sustained a heavy workload in Dubai. Australia has also been managing spearhead Mitchell Starc through this Test after he picked up a hamstring niggle.