India allrounder Hardik Pandya is reluctant to sign autographs and pose for selfies with fans outside the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) after India’s practice session ahead of the 1st ODI versus Australia. Pandya has recently faced an immense amount of criticism for his comments on a popular chat show, where his ‘cringeworthy’ comments were labeled as misogynistic on various social media platforms. It also prompted CoA to consider banning the cricketer, but there is no confirmation on that as yet. The other cricketer who was there in the show along with Hardik was India opener KL Rahul, but it seems his comments were not so harsh and he could get away lightly.
Pandya did not even look at the fans thronging outside the stadium, which is quite unlike to how he behaves as he obliges to fans regularly and is one of the most characters for fans. It sure seems to have taken a toll on his confidence ahead of the ODI series.
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Here is the video, where he walks past fans asking for his autograph:
Hardik Pandya less keen on signing autographs, posing for selfies #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/rlTnUyiJjs
— Rob Forsaith (@robforsaith) January 11, 2019
During his pre-match press conference ahead of the first ODI against Australia in Sydney, the Indian skipper Virat Kohli clarified that controversial comments made by Pandya and Rahul which has left them facing a suspension, are not acceptable and the personal opinions are not the view of the India team. He said, “We as the Indian cricket team and responsible cricketers don’t align with those views, those were individual opinions.”
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Talking about it further, Virat 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 and the two concerned players felt what has gone wrong and they have understood the magnitude of what’s happened. Definitely, it has to hit anyone hard, they will definitely understand the things that have not gone right.”
