Australia’s star batsman Usman Khawaja left for India on Thursday as the authorities cleared his visa.
According to Cricket Australia, the paperwork was received overnight on Wednesday and Khawaja’s departure was confirmed on Thursday.
The left-hander will join the rest of the squad in Bengaluru where they are training at facilities in Alwar before traveling to Nagpur for the first Test next week.
The players will acclimatize to the conditions in the subcontinent over the next few days, with most of the series likely to be played in spin-friendly conditions.
It may be noted that the Pakistan-born batsman was the only player in the Australian squad who did not join the board as his visa did not arrive on time.
Relations between Pakistan and India have been strained since partition in 1947, and that tension has regularly spilled over into sports.
The two countries last played a series against each other a decade ago and Pakistani players were barred from the prestigious T20 Indian Premier League.
Khawaja has made several tours to India, including both the 2013 and 2017 Test tours. The left-hander also faced visa challenges when he traveled to India for the T20 Champions League in 2011, which he described at the time as an ‘admin quirk’.
Khawaja, 36, picked up the Shane Warne award as Australia’s Men’s Test Player of the Year on Monday after a long 12-month spell during which he scored 1,020 runs at 78.46.
The first Test between the two teams will be played in Nagpur from February 9.
After the opener in Nagpur, Australia will also play Tests in New Delhi, Dharamsala and Ahmedabad followed by the ODI series.
Australia squad
Pat Cummins (c), Ashton Agar, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Peter Handscomb, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Lance Morris, Todd Murphy, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson and David Warner.
