Virat Kohli breaks his silence on KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya's chat show comment episode
Sydney, Jan 11 (IBNS): Indian skipper Virat Kohli broke his silence on the row that has emerged over the comments made against women by cricketers KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya when they appeared in a popular chat show recently and said those were the personal opinions of the players.
Kohli made the remark just hours before the two cricketers suspended pending an inquiry.
"We as the Indian cricket team and responsible cricketers don't align with those views,. Those were individual opinions," Kohli said during a press conference.
India will face Australia in the first ODI match of the series in Sydney on Saturday.
Amid criticisms over their comments on women during a popular TV show, Indian cricketers KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya have been suspended pending an inquiry, media reports said on Friday.
The BCCI Committee of Administrators (CoA) chairman Vinod Rai was quoted as saying by NDTV: "Both Pandya and Rahul have been suspended pending an inquiry."
Sources told NDTV earlier that Pandya and Rahul have been dropped for the first one-day international against Australia.
The match will be played in Sydney on Saturday.
A source in the BCCI also revealed to the national news channel that the two will be issued fresh show cause notices before a formal inquiry begins.
"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," the official told NDTV.
"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 be kept with the team as the backlash back home could be severe but majority in BCCI brass is against the decision," he added.
The Indian cricket board had earlier issued a show cause notice to cricketers Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul and asked for an explanation over their comments on women recently on a chat show. The BCCI isn't satisfied with Pandya's reply.
The two young players had made the comment on the popular Koffee with Karan show.
Pandya tweeted a statement which reads, "After reflecting on my comments on Koffee with Karan, I would like to apologise to everyone concerned who I may have hurt in any way. Honestly, I got a but carried away with the nature of the show. In no way did I mean to disrespect or hurt anyone's sentiments. Respect."
What did Pandya, Rahul say?
When Karan asked Pandya why he doesn't ask for women's names at night clubs, the all-rounder said: "It is so much to talk man, so how can I remember the name also sometimes. It's so loud."
When the host insisted on what does the cricketer talks about, Pandya said: "Its not talking..Its watching and just observing how they move.....I am little from black side so I have to see how they move first...."
Both Pandya and Rahul talked about their sex lives. Rahul shared an experience of how he was caught with a condom by his mother.
Explaining how he is frank with his family, Pandya said: "My family I have been like I am open about everything. When I lost my virginity, I told my parents that aj kar ke aaya (I did it today)." (sic)
"There was a party when my parents were sitting and they were asking tera wala kaun kaun hai (which girls are yours). I actually sat with them and said yeh yeh and yeh (this, this and this girl)...and my parents said wah, wah proud of you beta (son)," Pandya added.
After hearing Pandya, Karan said the cricketer's family was the "wildest".
Image: BCCI
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