The first Test will be played in Nagpur from Feb 9.
According to highly-placed sources in Melbourne and here in India, the Visa application of Khawaja, who was born in Pakistan and moved to Australia at the age of three, was forwarded to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in New Delhi.
It needed some time for the MEA to issue clearances to Khawaja and the Indian High Commission in Canberra got a message from New Delhi. It was immediately relayed to the Indian Consulate in Melbourne who promptly thereafter issued his visa.
As per the Cricbuzz report, not all visas are cleared by MEA, but some applications are to be cleared by New Delhi. The visa papers of other Australians, most of whom are regular visitors to India for the IPL and other bilateral competitions, were not referred to the MEA.
It is obvious that Khawaja's visa papers were sent to Delhi for his roots in Pakistan. For the record, Khawaja had previously visited India and had had Visa troubles.
It is learnt that Khawaja will fly directly to Bengaluru from Melbourne on Thursday morning along with a few members of the team's support staff. The other members of the Pat Cummins-led side have already left Australia in two groups.
The team will train in Bengaluru for a few days before reaching Nagpur, the venue of the first Test, three days before the start of the February 9-13 game.
(Cricbuzz inputs)