MI Days: Chahal, Who Was ‘Dangled From Balcony’ In 2013, Was ‘Gagged, Tied By Andrew Symonds, James Franklin’ In 2011

Mumbai: Former Team India head coach Ravi Shastri has called for a “life ban” on the player after Yuzvendra Chahal’s revelation that a drunk Mumbai Indians (MI) teammate had dangled him from a balcony in 2013. Chahal has not named the player.

“No laughing matter at all. I do not know who the person involved is, he was not in a conscious state of mind. If that is the case, then it is a big worry. Someone’s life is at risk, some people might think it is funny but for me, it is not funny at all,” Shastri said on ESPNcricinfo’s ‘T20 Time Out’.

Shastri also said players should report such incidents immediately. “You do not want an unfortunate incident for you to wake up, if something like that happens, you have to step up and tell the people concerned,” he said.

Revealing the shocking incident, Chahal had earlier said, “In 2013, I was with the Mumbai Indians. We had a match in Bengaluru. There was a get-together after that. There was a player who was very drunk, I will not take his name. He was very drunk; he was looking at me and he just called me. He took me outside and he dangled me from the balcony.”

Recounting another such incident from his MI days, Chahal has said he was once tied and gagged by teammates Andrew Symonds and James Franklin in 2011 and left like that for the entire night.

“It was in 2011 after winning the Champions League in a Chennai hotel. He (Andrew Symonds) had drunk a lot of “fruit juice” (laughs). I was with him only. James Franklin and he tied my hands and legs, and said ‘now you have to open’. They were in so much ‘masti’ they taped my mouth and forgot all about me. Party got over and in the morning, when a cleaner came, he saw me and freed me. They asked from when have I been here like this and I told them, ‘from the night itself’,” he said.

Did Symonds and Franklin apologised to him in the morning? Chahal said, “No, they said sometimes when they drink ‘juice’ so much, they can’t handle it and they can’t remember anything”.