[Watch] Usman Khawaja walks off retired hurt after copping a tough blow to his chin during the 1st AUS vs WI TestÂ
Usman Khawaja and the rest of the Australian team romped away to a 10-wicket win in the first Test against West Indies at the Adelaide Oval in the early stages of Day 3 itself. However, the end of the contest was marred by a rough blow to Khawaja, who had to walk off the field due to it.
After wreaking havoc in the final session of Day 2, the Australian bowlers wrapped up the formalities by bowling out West Indies for a mere 120 in the second innings, with Josh Hazlewood finishing with a five-wicket haul. The Windies had amassed a marginal lead of 26 runs, which the Australians were required to chase down to wrap up their fourth win in a row during the home summer.
The new opening pair of Steve Smith and Usman Khawaja walked out in a bid to complete the meager run chase and hand Australia the lead in the two-match series. The scores were level after six overs, and it was up to Khawaja to score the winning runs.
However, the left-handed batter was left flattened by a vicious short ball from debutant Shamar Joseph. It caught Khawaja straight on the helmet as he awkwardly tried to fend off and evade it. The ball seemingly hit his chin, and following consultation from the medical staff, it was decided that the southpaw would not continue his innings.
Have a look at the incident right here:
Khawaja was batting on nine runs when the disaster struck. The unprecedented incident brought Marnus Labuschagne out into the middle. He took a single off his second delivery to complete the win.
Usman Khawaja scored 45 runs in the first innings
The ongoing series marks Usman Khawaja's first series in a long time without David Warner as his opening partner, following the latter's retirement.
Although not entirely on board with the decision personally, Khawaja opened the innings with Steve Smith, with the pair stitching up 25 runs for the first wicket before Shamar Joseph wreaked havoc.
"Good to get the job done in three days. It was a wicket where you always felt you were in the game. Trav set the game for us. Big fellow turned it on this week. He bowled quite brilliantly and took the game away from them in just one spell," Australia captain Pat Cummins said during the post-match presentation.
Travis Head was named the Player of the Match for his brilliant hundred in the first innings. The century helped the hosts amass a significant first-innings lead, on the back of which, they could set up yet another home Test win.