Loss of banned players OK: Kohli

VIRAT Kohli insists his team will cope on the field without KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya, who have been ordered to return home amid a sexism scandal and will miss the entire ODI series against Australia.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has banned Rahul and Pandya with immediate effect for making controversial comments about women on an episode of a TV talk show, aired during the fourth Test.

Rahul was likely to serve as a reserve batsman throughout the three-match series but Pandya, a game-breaking allrounder, would have been one of the first players picked in India’s XI.

Rahul and Pandya have been widely criticised for a series of remarks, which Kohli has branded inappropriate, and will answer charges of misconduct and indiscipline levelled by the BCCI.

The pair will miss the entire three-match ODI series in Australia, which started at the SCG yesterday, followed by the tour of New Zealand.

“Always when two quality players are not featuring in the side, it upsets the balance,” Kohli said at the toss in Sydney. “More so with the allrounder.

“But we’re not too bothered ... a few guys stepping in. It’s an opportunity for them.

“Ravindra Jadeja ... it’s a great chance for him to show what he’s got.”

Kohli, speaking on Friday, distanced his team from the views that Pandya and Rahul had expressed about women.

“These are purely individual opinions ... we definitely, as the Indian cricket team, do not support views like that and that has been communicated,” he said.

“The two concerned players felt what has gone wrong and they have understood the magnitude.”