“I obviously had one too many drinks”
Image courtesy of: Zimbio
It has been revealed that South Africa spinner Aaron Phangiso was not allowed to board a plane from Dubai back to South Africa as he was too drunk and behaving in an unruly manner.
Despite the incident taking place on October 26 last year after South Africa had defeated India 3-2 in an ODI series, Afrikaans newspaper Rapport reported the story on Sunday.
It is understood that Phangiso “behaved poorly” as he insulted flight attendants and other passengers during the flight from Mumbai to Dubai. It was at Dubai that Phangiso was stopped from boarding the flight to Johannesburg.
Cricket South Africa confirmed that Phangiso was sanctioned in November, and released a statement, which said: “We confirm that Aaron pleaded guilty to contravening our player code of conduct and has been sanctioned. The punishment for that incident was handed out last year, and that issue is now in the past.”
Phangiso also apologised for his behaviour and admitted that he may have had “one too many drinks”.
“We were celebrating a one-day series win in one of the toughest places to play, and I obviously had one too many drinks,” he said. “The Emirates staff in Dubai explained that I had to stay behind and sober up, and I completely understand their reasons.”