New Delhi: Suspended cricketers Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul tendered Monday ‘unconditional’ apologies for their sexist comments during a TV chat show even as CoA chief Vinod Rai said that the BCCI should correct the two players, not end their careers.
Rai all through this fiasco has tried to take a ‘soft’ stand on the matter, while on the other hand co-panelist Diana Edulji has demanded at least an year’s suspension for the two players.
However, despite the apologies tendered by the duo, 10 BCCI units demanded a special general meeting (SGM) to appoint an ombudsman for carrying out an inquiry. Edulji however wants an an inquiry done by the CoA and the BCCI office-bearers.
“Yes, Hardik and Rahul have submitted their reply to the fresh show-cause notices that were served to them. They have tendered unconditional apology. The CoA chief has instructed the CEO to conduct an inquiry as per clause 41 (c) of the new BCCI constitution,” a senior BCCI official told this agency on conditions of anonymity.
Edulji fears a ‘cover up’ in the controversy, triggered by Pandya and Rahul’s much-condemned statements on ‘Koffee with Karan’ in which they spoke about hookups with multiple women and being casual about it even with their parents. The comments have been described as ‘inappropriate’ by India skipper Virat Kohli.
Brought back midway from the tour of Australia, Pandya and Rahul’s immediate fate hangs in balance with the World Cup less than four months away. Rai, in an email to Edulji, had said that the ‘BCCI is not in the business of ending young careers’.
“Please be assured that the desire to conduct the inquiry is not a desire to ‘cover up’. The interest of cricket in India has to be kept in mind. The off the ground act of the players was deplorable. It was crass as I said immediately after reading the comments,” Rai wrote.
“It is our responsibility to reprimand them, take corrective action, sensitise them of their misdemeanour and then get them back on to the ground once they have suffered the consequences,” he added.
“We have shamed them by recalling them from an ongoing tour. We have suspended them from further games. We need to correct them and not bring their career to a cul de sac by indefinitely delaying a decision. These misdemeanours require swift action, with a corrective approach,” Rai further stated.
The road to redemption for the duo could prove to be a tricky. Rai has instructed BCCI CEO Rahul Johri to carry out a preliminary inquiry but board members along with Edulji want otherwise.
It must be added here that the Indian team management is not very happy at the treatment meted out to Pandya and Rahul. Sources informed that even though Kohli had publicly denounced the statement made by the two, the management felt that situation could have been handled batter. With both Pandya and Rahul being an integral part of India’s 2019 World Cup campaign, the management had wanted BCCI to punish the players but to allow them to stay with the team.
Agencies