Sydney: Under fire for their ‘crass’ comments, cricketer Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul will be send back home midway through the Australia tour, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) confirmed on Friday.
The duo were suspended by BCCI pending an inquiry into the sexist comments against women on the Koffee with Karan show. Earlier, reports had suggested that both of them had been dropped from the first one-day international against Australia to be played in Sydney on Saturday.
“It’s confirmed. The duo are being sent back. If they can book tickets then tomorrow they will be leaving (for India) or latest by day after,” a senior BCCI official told news agency PTI.
The BCCI also said that the two will be issued fresh show-cause notices before a formal inquiry begins.
“Whether it will be an internal committee of the BCCI or an ad hoc ombudsman who will conduct an inquiry, is yet to be ascertained,” the official was quoted as saying by PTI.
At the show hosted by filmmaker Karan Johar, KL Rahul chose his words carefully unlike Hardik, who boasted about hooking up with multiple women and also how open he has been about it with his parents.
After the Twitter backlash, Pandya apologised for his comments stating that he ‘got a bit carried away with the nature of the show’.
This is probably the first time in the history of Indian cricket that two serving players are being sent back home, save an episode 82 years back.
Way back in 1936, the legendary Lala Amarnath was sent back from India’s tour of England by the erstwhile captain Maharaja of Vijianagaram or ‘Vizzy’ for alleged insubordination during a first-class game.
