Shikhar Dhawan's family not allowed to board flight to South Africa

What's the story?

Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan's South African sojourn got off to a bad start after his family was forced to stay back in the United Arab Emirates following documentation issues with the airlines he was flying in. An irate Dhawan took to Twitter to express his displeasure at the turn of events.

In case you didn't know...

Dhawan is part of the Indian squad that is traveling to South Africa for early next year's Test series. He left with the team on Wednesday night for the series that begins with the first game on January 5.

He is a doubtful starter for the first game after injuring his ankle before India's departure.

The heart of the matter

According to Dhawan's tweet, he was on his way to South Africa, traveling with his wife and kids from Mumbai, with a stopover at Dubai. At the Dubai International Airport, the airline authorities asked the Indian star to produce birth certificates as well as other related documents for his kids, which weren't available at that time.

1/2.Absolutely unprofessional from @emirates. Was on my way 2 SA with my fam & was told tht my wife and kids can't board the flight from Dubai to SA. Was asked to produce birth certificates & other documents fr my kids at the airport which we obviously didn't have at that moment.

— Shikhar Dhawan (@SDhawan25) December 29, 2017

2/2.They are now at Dubai airport waiting for the documents to arrive. Why didn't @emirates notify about such a situation when we were boarding the plane from Mumbai? One of the emirates' employee was being rude for no reason at all.

— Shikhar Dhawan (@SDhawan25) December 29, 2017

Subsequently, his family was forced to stay back at the airport till the relevant documents were retrieved from India. Dhawan also mentioned that the airline had not specified any such documents earlier, calling the act 'unprofessional'. He also complained that one of the staff members was acting rude to the family.

Parallels from history

The airlines in question seem to be running into irate cricketers: just hours back, Kevin Pietersen had a full-blown rant on Twitter, complaining about how the airlines had forgotten to pick him up for his flight: adding that he had lost his baggage in the process. Being a first-class passenger, and a platinum member of the airlines, he expressed his displeasure at how live streaming was not provided on the 13-hour flight, forcing him to miss the ongoing BBL action.

1. YOU FORGET TO PICK ME UP FOR MY FLIGHT. 2. YOU’VE JUST LEFT ALL MY LUGGAGE IN DUBAI. How do I work on international TV in a few hours with no clothes? 1st Class FULL paying passenger & PLATINUM member. @emirates @EmiratesSupport @Busta569 ??????????

— KP (@KP24) December 28, 2017

Author's take

It's common practice for cricketers to travel with their families on overseas tours: while nothing can be commented on the turn of events until the details are clear, it is disheartening to see international cricketers, and their families, suffer such discomfort before a grueling tour.