The flamboyant Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya and opening batsman KL Rahul have been grabbing a lot of eyeballs in the news for all the wrong reasons in the past week. Ever since their appearance on the popular television chat show Koffee With Karan which was aired last Sunday, January 5th, there’s been a severe criticism and a massive outrage for their comments. The BCCI has sent a show cause notice to both cricketers but it is Pandya who is facing all the heat for his comments which were termed as ‘misogynistic’ and ‘sexist’.
The 25-year-old all-rounder shared how close he was with multiple women and had sexual relations with most of them. However, later on, he also issued a formal apology stating that he ‘got carried away’ by the nature of the show and is ‘sincerely regretful’ for his comments. Pandya’s father has also defended his son and said that the comments were made in a ‘light-hearted manner’ and that his son is “an innocent boy”.
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As per the quotes in Mid-Day, Himanshu Pandya said, “I don’t think people should read too much into his comments. It was an entertainment show and his comments were made in a light-hearted manner. he was only looking to entertain the audience. So, it [his comments] should not be viewed very seriously or negatively. He is an innocent boy with a very fun- loving nature.”
While Hardik has come out and issued a public apology, Rahul is yet to respond to BCCI’s notice. Both the players are currently in Australia preparing for the three-match ODI series which commences on the 12th of January (Saturday) in Sydney. There have been calls for the board to review the matter of cricketers attending non-cricketing shows.
There are reports that the duo will be banned by the BCCI for a few games and strict action will be taken against them. According to reports, an apology is not enough as one of the Committee of Administrators (CoA) members, Vinod Rai and Diana Edulji want both the cricketers to be suspended for their actions on the show which is hosted by popular Bollywood filmmaker Karan Johar.
