The suspended young Indian players Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul have summoned back to India from the tour of Australia amid an investigation which commenced due to their rash comments about women on a TV celebrity show. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said the pair would be stopped “from playing any form of cricket” after their comments sparked outrage on social media.
The veteran Indian spinner, Harbhajan Singh lashed out at the suspended duo for saying such shameful things on the national TV which also tarnished the image of the game and those who play it. Harbhajan even went on to add that he won’t be comfortable having Pandya and Rahul around his wife and daughter. During a chat with India Today, Bhajjis he said, “I will not travel with these two guys in the bus if my daughter or my wife are traveling on the team bus with me. How would they feel? You are looking at women in only one angle and that is not right.”
Harbhajan also said that Pandya and Rahul’s comments have put every cricketer’s reputation on the line.
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The veteran cricketer felt, “We don’t talk about all this even with our friends and they were talking on public television. Now people might think was Harbhajan Singh like this, was Anil Kumble like this and was Sachin Tendulkar…Pandya has been in the team for how long to talk of the team culture in the manner he did. I think this is the way to go. The BCCI did the right thing, and this is also the way forward. This was expected and I am not surprised.”
Pandya boasted about his multiple hookups with women and made other sexual remarks during a chat show broadcast last Sunday. He along with Rahul apologised for their conduct after the BCCI demanded an explanation but officials unanimously decided to go ahead with an inquiry.
The Indian selectors will soon name their replacements for the ODI series against Australia and the tour to New Zealand.
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However, the Indian skipper, Virat Kohli clarified that the team does not support any “inappropriate” remarks. He said, “From the Indian cricket team point of view, any inappropriate comments that are made in that scenario are something that we definitely don’t support.”
Kohli also felt that that the two players “have understood the magnitude of what’s happened”.
