BCCI lifts bans on players
The Indian cricket board (BCCI) has lifted the bans on Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul, with the duo now immediately available for the national team again, pending the appointment and adjudication of the board’s ombudsman.
The two players were suspended earlier this month and sent home from the tour of Australia after making what were considered sexist and inappropriate remarks on a television chat show.
It means all-rounder Pandya and batsman Rahul could feature in India’s current tour to New Zealand, with Pandya seen as likely to link up with the squad for the remainder of the one-day series and the Twenty20 series to follow.
The players had been in limbo since their suspension on January 11 because of a disagreement on the next course of action between the board’s two-member Committee of Administrators (COA).
COA chairman Vinod Rai was in favour of a two-match suspension and allowing the players to return pending an inquiry by an ad-hoc ombudsman.
However, the other member – former India women’s captain Diana Edulji – wanted an inquiry into the matter carried out by either the BCCI’s office bearers and the CoA, or by an ombudsman.
Two of the three office bearers had then pointed out the ombudsman could only be appointed by the BCCI, so it was decided the CoA would wait for the Supreme Court to appoint one, with the BCCI having had the role vacant since 2016.
Pandya, 25, didn’t end up playing a game on the tour of Australia, with his last international match being an ODI against Pakistan in Dubai in September, while Rahul, 26, featured in three of the four test matches.