PANDYA SUSPENDED FOR TV REMARKS, DROPPED FROM ODI SQUAD

NEWDELHI: Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul were suspended by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Friday and ordered home from Australia pending an inquiry for sexist and inappropriate comments made on a TV chat show.

The glare has been mainly on Pandya for boasting about success with multiple women in the show hosted by director-producer, Karan Johar.

The Committee of Administrators had issued a show-cause on Wednesday, and initiated the inquiry after the players tendered their apology. “The COA in accordance with the BCCI has decided to suspend Pandya and Rahul from playing any form of cricket after their comments on a TV show. The duo will now return to India and an inquiry and proceedings will be made against them for misconduct and indiscipline that have been initiated,” a BCCI statement said.

“The duo is now called upon to provide an explanation as to why they should not be proceeded against for misconduct and indiscipline under Rule 41 of the BCCI Constitution within a period of 7 days.” The selectors will name replacements for the Australia ODIS and the New Zealand limited-overs tour that follows.

Pandya has also apologised on Twitter for his comments, which COA chief Vinod Rai termed as “crass, in bad taste and unacceptable.” On Friday, skipper Virat Kohli, speaking ahead of Saturday’s first ODI in Sydney, criticised the comments. “From the Indian cricket team point of view, any inappropriate comments that are made in that scenario are something we definitely don’t support. The two players concerned felt what has gone wrong and they have understood the magnitude. It

has to hit anyone hard, they will definitely understand the things that have not gone right. “These are purely individual opinions ... we definitely, as the Indian cricket team, do not support views like that and that has been communicated.”

The episode has also been taken down by online platform Hotstar.