The Hardik Pandya-KL Rahul case points to a glaring contradiction: the gulf between the Indian cricket team’s performance in Australia and the mess that prevails in India’s cricket administration.
For starters there can be no justification for Pandya’s sexist and misogynistic comments on the ‘Koffee with Karan’ show, and he along with Rahul deserve to be punished. Though they were promptly suspended from the team and returned from Australia, it’s been close to two weeks since the show was aired and we are nowhere near a closure on this controversy.
CoA member Diana Edulji was the first to raise the red flag on this issue calling for punishment and a two-match ban of these two cricketers. The next day she sought a legal opinion on this issue. The BCCI insiders argue there is no point of law here as BCCI’s code of conduct is expected to apply – whereas the issue here perhaps is whether the code applies to behavioural excesses that occur outside the cricket field. The wrangling between the BCCI and CoA has been an open secret for the last couple of years.
But the real irony has perhaps got to do with the person who sent the show cause notices to the two players — BCCI CEO Rahul Johri. He was under a cloud recently, facing allegations of sexual harassment. Though Johri was acquitted of the charges after an inquiry, a woman member of the inquiry panel, lawyer Veena Gowda, had recommended a gender sensitisation programme for Johri.
Edulji is uncomfortable with Johri heading the enquiry and has warned CoA chairman Vinod Rai (they are not on the best of terms) of a “cover up”. The matter has reached the Supreme Court with the CoA urging it to appoint an ombudsman. A cash-rich ‘private body’ , BCCI is not exactly transparent in its functioning. Be that as it may, Pandya and Rahul may have to wait longer to know their punishment.
The writer is a Senior Deputy Editor