Hardik Pandya dropped for Sydney ODI vs Australia, reportedly set to return home

Hardik Pandya’s woes has increased following all the backlash which he has received from social media following his ‘outrageous’ remarks on the show Koffee With Karan hosted by popular film director Karan Johar. PTI quoted BCCI officials who were close to the development stating, “The team management has told Pandya that he is not playing tomorrow as they are yet to get a final directive. Rahul, in any case, wasn't in contention for a first XI berth. The team management is waiting for an official communication on whether there is a provisional suspension and if they will be sent back,” the source said. The move comes after Committee of Administrators member Diana Edulji said that the duo should be suspended until further course of action is taken. The former India women’s cricket player had initially suggested a two-match suspension for the duo but referred the matter to the legal cell after CoA chief Vinod Rai agreed with her and recommended the same.

The move was taken by BCCI legal team refused to declare their comments on women in the chat show Koffee With Karan a violation of the code of conduct. "We feel that present matter doesn't fall under the ambit of Code of Conduct and procedure of Code of Conduct can't be invoked in present circumstances,” the firm stated. The firm said the behaviour in question was neither a criticism of any match or against a player or support staff or match official. A senior BCCI official said this was not a code of conduct but it was about bringing an organisation to disrepute. The official cited the example of Steve Smith, who was only banned for one Test in the ICC Code of Conduct situation but was banned for one year by Cricket Australia.

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Virat Kohli, the Indian cricket team skipper, had condemned the comments of Pandya. “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 that has been communicated (to the two players. We definitely don't align with those views and those are purely individual views. The two concerned players (have) felt what has gone wrong and they have understood the magnitude of what's happened,” Kohli said in the pre-match press conference.

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The situation came into light with this one conversation when Johar was asking questions about not asking women’s name in a night club and what do men talk about. To this, Pandya replied, “I like to watch and observe how they (women) move. I'm little from the black side so I need to see how they move." Pandya also boasted about how he casually discussed his sex life with his parents. “When I lost my virginity, I came home and said, 'Main karke aya hai aaj (I had sex today)'. At a party my parents asked me 'acha tera wala (women) kaun sa hai so I said yeh, yeh, yeh (pointing out women)' and they were like 'waah proud of you beta',” Pandya replied with laughter.

India is set to face Australia in the first ODI in Sydney on January 12 and they will play two further ODIs in Australia before embarking on a five-match ODI series against New Zealand.