Visa delay forced Australia opener Usman Khawaja to miss the team's flight to India on Wednesday for their four-Test tour, Cricket Australia (CA) said on Wednesday.
The Pakistan-born batter was the only player in Australia's squad not to board because his visa had not arrived in time.
Pakistan and India have had strained relations since partition in 1947 and those tensions have routinely seeped into sports.
The two countries last played a bi-lateral series a decade ago and Pakistani players have been barred from the prestigious T20 Indian Premier League.
Khawaja also posted a meme, from Netflix series "Narcos", on social media to describe his situation on a lighter note.
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CA hopes that the visa will arrive later on Wednesday and said Khawaja had been booked on a flight out on Thursday.
CA added that some team support staff are also leaving for India on Thursday.
Khawaja has made multiple trips to India including both the 2013 and 2017 Test tours. The left-hander also faced visa challenges when he visited India in 2011 for the T20 Champions League due to, what he described at the time, as an ‘admin quirk’.
It must be noted that Khawaja, 36, claimed the Shane Warne award as Australia's men's Test player of the year on Monday after a prolific 12 months during which he scored 1,020 runs at an average of 78.46.
The first Test between the two sides will be played in Nagpur from February 9.
After the opener in Nagpur, Australia also play Tests in New Delhi, Dharamsala and Ahmedabad with an ODI series to follow.
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.