AUS v IND 2018-19: Virat Kohli breaks his silence on Pandya and Rahul’s controversial comments

Pandya and Rahul faced the backlash from Indian fans and media after their controversial remarks on the TV show ‘Koffee with Karan’.

Virat Kohli addresses the media ahead of the first ODI against Australia in Sydney | Getty

India skipper Virat Kohli on Friday (January 11) opened up about Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul’s controversial remarks made on the popular TV show ‘Koffee with Karan’. Kohli termed the comments as inappropriate and made it clear that the Indian cricket team don’t endorse it by any means.

Pandya and Rahul faced the backlash after their "misogynistic" and "sexist" remarks on the talk show. In particular, Hardik received the flak for talking about things like not asking the names of women at parties, sending the same text to multiple women and watching them move on the dance among others.

"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," Kohli said while addressing the press conference ahead of the first ODI against Australia in Sydney. "Definitely it has to hit anyone hard, they will definitely understand the things that have not gone right.

"We, definitely, as the Indian cricket team do not support views like that and that has been communicated. I can definitely say that as the Indian cricket team and responsible cricketers we definitely don't align with those views and those are purely individual views.

"We are still waiting for a decision to be made but from the Indian cricket team point of view this changes nothing in terms of our beliefs in the change room. It does nothing to the spirit that we've been able to create within the change room and these are purely individual opinions and something as I said which is inappropriate."

On Wednesday (December 9), the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) sent a show-cause notice to both Pandya and Rahul, seeking clarification for their comments on the show hosted by renowned Bollywood director Karan Johar.

Meanwhile, CoA chief Vinod Rai has proposed the two-match ban for the duo. However, the other CoA member, Diana Edulji, is yet to give her approval on Rai’s recommended penalty.

The entire saga has created a headache for Kohli ahead of the ODI series opener on Saturday, especially the uncertainty around Pandya's availability.

"From the combination and team balance point of view, yes, you'll have to think about the combination you'll need now," Kohli said. "You don't have control over these things so you have to address it the way it unfolds. That's how we are looking at it, the combinations will have to be looked at when the decision comes out and from there on we'll see what needs to be done about the whole situation."

 
 

By Salman Anjum - 11 Jan, 2019

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