Indian Cricketers, Hardik Pandya, and KL Rahul have to pay a heavy penalty for appearing on the show, Koffee With Karan 6 as the boys are suspended until a pending investigation into their controversial comments made on the chat show.

“Both Pandya and Rahul have been suspended pending an inquiry,” news agency PTI quoted CoA chief Vindo Rai as saying.

They both will not be considered for selection during the three-match ODI series against Australia, starting January 12 in Sydney.

“The duo are being sent back. If they can book tickets then tomorrow or at least by the day after. At this point their chances of making it to the New Zealand tour is also bleak,” said a senior BCCI official.

An official further added, “Whether it will be an internal committee of the BCCI or an ad hoc ombudsman who will conduct an inquiry, is yet to be ascertained.”

Earlier than this, the team management recommended Pandya and Rahul to stay back in Australia to avoid further backlash.

“The Indian team management will take a call on whether they would want to keep the two with the team or send them back. There is a school of thought that they are kept with the team as the backlash back home could be severe but the majority in BCCI brass is against the decision,” he added.

Other cricketers Rishabh Pant, Vijay Shankar, Shreyas Iyer, and Manish Pandey are willing to take place of Rahul and Pandya in the upcoming major match. Within 15 days, an inquiry committee will set up. In emails exchanged between CoA, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and a legal team, it is said that a show cause notice will be sent to the players with point-by-point breaches.

Pandya and Rahul, after appearing on the show faced backlashed through the social media where people said they made racist and sexist comments and had a bad attitude toward women.

Published by Soniya Kaur on 12 Jan 2019